Too much time has passed since I've been able to give a look at various demos and EPs appearing on Metal Bandcamp, so let’s waste no more and dive right in to a diverse range of releases for this incarnation of Dave’s Demo Roundup.
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Not to be confused with the U.K.’s Cold Fell, a blackened doom metal band that I had given a look to awhile back (or with the band Black Breath, for that matter), New Jersey’s Coldfells play a melancholic form of traditional doom metal that seems to be making a comeback these days. Immediately, fans should take note that Black Breath, a two-song EP, is being released by Bindrune Recordings and Coldfells appears to be another project from vocalist Nechochwen.
Falling somewhere within the same niche of doom metal occupied by classic bands such as My Dying Bride, Katatonia, and so on, Coldfells mix up their doom with nods to melodies with mild keyboards, a generally slow pace that actually will go so far as to pick up to a blastbeat, and vocal styles ranging from low growls to a soaring, yet muted, clean style that is quite pleasing. Black Breath clocks in at about seventeen minutes and hints at possible greatness to come from Coldfells.
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Here is a reissue from Svart Records of a classic demo from 1993 from Finland’s Rippikuolu. An obscure band, diehard fans of heavy doom/ death will probably already be familiar with Rippikuolu; for the rest of you, here’s the perfect opportunity to get acquainted.
Insanely heavy with guttural vocals and a crushing percussion, Musta Seremonia is chock full of gigantic riffs and a pace that varies from a glacial dirge to a mid-paced gallop to the occasional, very primitive sounding, blastbeat. Given that this is a demo from the days before Pro Tools and what have you, expect a very messy sound with hollow sounding drums, but the devastatingly heavy (I’m running out of adjectives) down tuned guitars and bass more than make up for such modern niceties that fans of the genre couldn’t care less about anyway
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| Artwork by Derek Setzer |
A three song EP from Quebec’s Fuck the Facts, Abandoned is a short, all out blast of chaotic grindcore. Expertly played, Abandoned features Fuck The Facts’ penchant for bizarrely angular guitar leads, riffs, and wicked time changes. Fuck the Facts also nicely separate themselves from other grindcore bands by injecting an odd moment or two of quiet, almost soft, melody that serves as a pause before going for the throat once again. At times, the listener never quite knows what to expect next. The duo of frontwoman Mel Mongeon and bassist Marc Bourgon expertly delivers their gut wrenching vocals with power.
Fuck The Facts have a habit of releasing numerous short EPs in between albums; Abandoned is the latest such release in a string since the last proper full-length, Die Miserable from 2011. Here’s hoping that a new full-length is on the horizon.
