Metalcatto
If you thought Highgate‘s Prophecies of Eternal Doom was a Speed Metal album, then I don’t know what you’re doing with your life. However, if you thought it sounded like Doom, then you figured out something ridiculously obvious. Good for you. Anyway, how about we dive into this pool filled with pee and despair? You first.
Oh man, this was as rancid as a bag of forgotten chips. I could almost feel the smell of decomposition radiating from the speakers. Prophecies of Eternal Doom brought me back to those earlier days when you couldn’t find brutal Doom Metal that wasn’t recorded with a potato. It’s something the younger generations didn’t have the horror of experiencing firsthand. Luckily, Highgate is here to take us back to that hell.
The riffs are prolonged, stretching on for enough time to make you remember all your past mistakes and embarrassments in excruciating detail. The album isn’t trying to hide beneath anything pretentious. It’s delivering Doom that borders on nostalgic territory, evoking a time when the genre was more about atmosphere than polish. However, even if it’s not Sunn O))), it was slow enough to make me wonder how long it takes for paint to dry on a wall. Did that make you think the album is boring?
That wouldn’t be totally fair, but you do need some patience to get wrapped up in this suffocating experience. If you’re not in the right headspace, you’ll click skip long before the first track ends. Also, Highgate isn’t going to surprise the hardcore purists like our colleague Pegah. That would take a wilder, more experimental approach. As it stands, the album has its charm, but I wouldn’t take hostages for it just yet. It occupies a comfortable middle ground—traditional enough to satisfy genre fans, but not distinctive enough to convert anyone new.
I came to Prophecies of Eternal Doom feeling like a million bucks and left feeling the same, but after five years of Turkish-style inflation. It’s corrosive and oppressive in all the right ways for a Doom record. It picks the difficult road within the genre—the one that demands patience and rewards it with atmosphere rather than instant gratification. Though I don’t agree with all the choices made here, I can respect them. The commitment to a vision, even a bleak and slow one, counts for something. Time to climb back into the swamp now.
Label: Horror Pain Gore Death Productions
Release date: 27 March , 2026
Website: https://www.facebook.com/Highgatedoom
Country: USA
Score: 3.0/5.0
Metal Eclipse Reviews 