Screams from the Gutter Vol. IX: The Death-Doom End Times

Here are three bands operating in the realm of death-doom metal, which in this case should be taken loosely as: all three bands are very different from one another, and slither in and out of various genres other than simply death and doom metal. Nevertheless, all three rule, and not only that, as you listen and read further you will find out that some of this shit is downright insane, at times even fucking scary, and way out there in its style and intents…

1. OUTRE – Ghost Chants

So let’s take a deep breath and dive in with Outre, the most “accessible” band of the three; or if you will, the less doomy of the three. These guys are from Poland and sound something like Bloodbath spliced together with fragments of Emperor and Dissection. Their paced mid-tempos are enveloping and icy and definitely feel “nordic” in their stark and unforgiving tones, while their faster and more menacing parts, on the other hand, just sound like straight up Norwegian black metal of the late nineties, with Watain, Gorgoroth, and Dark Funeral seeming like the primary indicators of their forbidding sound. There is also some “operatic” and more baroque shit going on that pops up from time to time, bringing to mind two opposite extremes when it comes to stuff like this: Arcturus on one side, due to their artsy and colorful experimentation; and Deathspell Omega on the other, due to their abstract, abject, winding and completely deformed craft. In other words, what we’re hinting at is that while there is some classic shit going on in Outre’s sound, it’s also safe to say that this band’s sound is a stormy vortex of various different influences all being thrown in the mix and creating a rather powerful and mesmerizing listening experience. This LP is out now through Godz ov War and Third Eye Temple.

2. SPECTRAL VOICE – Necrotic Doom

Not long ago, my band played a show with this band from Colorado, and it was a real pleasure to see them unfold their truly necrotic craft right before my eyes. I was moved, impressed and captivated by their music and decided that I was going to write about them because I think they deserve some serious attention. Spectral Voice hail from Denver, CO, and they feature current and former members of Velnias, Ævangelist, Blood Incantation, Stillborn Fawn, Nekrofilth, Hell and many more Northwest notable underground and extreme metal bands. As the title of their demo suggests, their music is a festering and blistering pile of putrid slime. In this music, Death Metal and Doom truly and seriously come together in an unholy union of filth and rotting heaviness. The band essentially plays Bolt Thrower riffs that are tuned down to mammoth heaviness and slowed down to a hallucinating coma. The result does not fall far from bands like Disembowelment, early Esoteric and Paradise Lost, Evoken, Incantation, Winter and Skepticism. Double bass and sporadic blasts collide with comatose doom tempos in a daunting and surreal symbiosis of crushing heaviness and complete aural filth.

3. AUTOKRATOR – Self-titled

And this is where you wonder, “what in the fuck is this?”. And rightfully so do you wonder. You don’t come across shit like this very often. Actually, you never come across shit like this. Autokrator hail from Paris, France, and play some of the most bestial and barbaric death/drone/doom hybrid out there. Graced by apocalyptic images of ancient Rome, lyrical themes of war and militarism, and with a cascading and suffocating slow-motion aural bludgeoning as the core of their sound, Autokrator’s music is not something to be taken lightly. This is absolutely barbaric, primitive and dehumanized death-doom that reaches depths of heaviness, abjection and torturous musical heaviness that at times you will find hard to believe is real. Thrust forward by a hail of spastic, regressed and demented drum beats that sound like a broken drum machine, Autokrator’s music sounds like a further deviated and extremised version of Mortician mixed with drone and industrial elements, or of Truppensturm reduced to even more primordial and feral-like instincts. The guitars are an absolutely spine-bending load of downtuned violence and the vocals are a cavernous war-roar, invoking blood to fall from the sky like rain and all human flesh to be torn apart in a firestorm of war, famine and plague for eternity. Autokrator’s music sounds as if it’s made of shifting tectonic plates and erupting volcanoes, signaling the end of days and projected against a backdrop of absolutely inhuman sonic ferocity. Do not take this band lightly, or they will fucking disintegrate you. Also out now through Godz ov War and Third Eye Temple.