"Doom of the Occult" is a
melding of Funeral Doom/Old-School Death and some melodic interludes. And on the
surface, all is well. They do a great job of creating a very dark soundscape,
varying tempo in between Doom and Death levels, with some very grim sounding
vocals. In between, there are a variety of interludes, some using a depressive
organ while others are more of a middle-eastern folk vibe. The lead guitars
often come in for some interesting solos as well, such as on "Descending into
the Kingly Tomba".
But altogether, on the metal tracks, there really isn't much to differentiate
one from the next. It's like they went with a rather standard formula and
replicated it from track to track. They hit you with a few doom or death riffs,
then throw in a solo, and all the while, it just comes across to me as very
same-ish.
The interludes are cool, and inject a little more variety into the mix, but they
aren't going to blow you away by any means.
Altogether, I really like what they've accomplished in terms of creating a
sound, but it's tough to listen to it and say, "Hey this is [insert track
name]!" It blends together, but there are few moments that really stand out to
you as a listener. Perhaps perpetuating this is the fact that this is quite a
long album.
Overall, this is something that is going to serve more atmospheric purposes I
feel. And while I'm not huge on it after repeated listens, I still think there
is a lot here that works well. This is probably going to appeal more to fans of
Funeral Doom or Old-School Death, and is certainly worth checking out at the
very least.
