Suffering so you don't have to!
Vicky
I decided to share wisdom on the Doom Metal phenomenon after being asked to do so by some friends who have started listening to this style of Dark Metal and couldn’t find any good bands except for My Dying Bride – according to them, of course.
Metalcatto
You know what this year hasn’t had much of (aside from peace and love)? Sad puppy Death/Doom. So I decided to check the inbox and see if we had some. Of course we did: Sorrowful Land – Hiraeth (I swear I’ve reviewed an album with that name before). However, despite my obvious bias for this wholesome and crushing subgenre, I’m trying to give more balanced views lately when it comes to my guilty pleasures. So, let’s see if this album is something Pegah would love, or just me. Let’s dive in!
Vicky
I had only briefly heard of Pilgrimage in my Doom/Goth/Death Metal groups of friends when some of them said that this band was very promising. I’ve listened to its debut album – Sigil of the Pilgrim Sun – in the Pandemic era, but I have to admit that, to my embarrassment, I completely forgot about it. I have to thank the manager of Metal Eclipse Reviews, our fellow cat lover and Metal enthusiast, Catto, for reminding me that Pilgrimage is about to release a new album, From Amber To Sun. And it’s a very good one.
Ixone
Oh good lord, what have I even gotten myself into? One bizarre mention of influences and I’m on a cruise down the river Styx… absolutely brilliant! The Medea Project have come forward and delivered what I can only describe as an absolute Doom Metal oddball; a fascinating one, yes, but an oddball nevertheless. Crushing, eerie and disjointed are only a few of the myriad of adjectives that come to mind when listening to Kharon (the river Styx mention wasn’t actually pointless), brought forth by both the music and the adjacent elements, such as the stunning cover artwork. That being said, I shall leave the introduction as it is and actually do what I am supposed to.
Pegah
“Where there is sorrow, there is holy ground“
Oscar Wilde
Metalcatto
I’ve seen it all in my short life—from bands trashing venues for fun to false nuclear armageddons. Not much surprises me anymore. And yet, the world still has some strange tricks up its sleeve. This is where Völur & Cares step in. The band claims to be an Experimental Doom act, but to me, Breathless Spirit is pure Avant-Garde Metal. I mean, how else do you describe a Metal album with no guitars—just bass, violin, and drums—centered on an epic Icelandic saga? It’s full-on weirdness, and we’re diving straight in.
Metalcatto
I usually don’t give much context about the bands we review at MER, but this time is different—and not just because it’s a Swedish band again. Eternal Darkness – Eternal Darkness is a debut that took 35 years to get done. I wasn’t even born when the first idea for it started emerging! And yet, I find out the band has already split. Dead before being properly born—well, it can’t get more Death Metal than that. Let’s get to it!
Metalcatto
It feels like fame has gotten to the top of my head and I’m starting to neglect the deep underground, right? Just kidding! But we’ve had a lot of special articles and high-profile reviews lately, and—as usual—the local bands pay the price like innocent bystanders. So now I’m bringing back a bit of justice, even if just for a moment, in this sorrowful world… Wait, what am I trying to say? It’s sunny outside—let’s stick to that mood. Let’s go!
Stargazer Scholar
In 1741, J.S. Bach published a set of compositions that later became known as the Goldberg Variations, all the thirty pieces whereof explored the bass line and the chord progression of a single aria. In 1934, Sergey Rachmaninoff wrote his Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini, which reproduced, inverted, and otherwise transfigured the great Italian’s 24th Caprice. In 2025, Katatonia’s new album, Nightmares as Extensions of the Waking State, comes out… And I reckon you can see what I’m driving at.
Pegah
“Yes, the day the world ended and nobody was innocent again. God, how swiftly it all fell down!” ― Arthur Miller, After the Fall.
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