ALBUM REVIEW: Apostle of Solitude, “Until The Darkness Goes”

By: Richard Maw
 
Album Type: Full Length
Date Released: 12/11/2021
Label: Cruz Del Sur Music

“Until The Darkness Goes” CD//DD//LP track listing:
 
1. When The Darkness Comes
2. The Union
3. Apathy In Isolation
4. Deeper Than The Oceans
5. Beautifully Dark
6. Relive The Day
 
The Review:
 
Apostle of Solitude, doom denizens of Indiana, return after 2018's excellent “From Gold to Ash”. This time around the band... deliver another slab of molten doom metal! Certainly, opener “When The Darkness Comes” is bleak and foreboding with slow, S-LO-W, riffs, massive drums and plaintive vocals in abundance. 
 
The record sounds great- organic but well produced- and the songs are not short on dynamics, either. This kind of light and shade in texture and volume is quite key to this kind of doom being successful. This is trad-doom; Saint Vitus, Trouble, The Gates of Slumber et. al. but a rather forlorn and sorrowful vibe which rules out aggression in the delivery.  As such, it's operating once again in that sphere of slowed down heavy metal where you just have to have the songs and dynamics to keep the listener interested.
 
Fortunately, I can happily report that Apostle of Solitude have them in spades. Of course, it's all uniformly dark and melancholic and most tracks are six or seven minutes in length, BUT the band have played a masterstroke by sticking to a manageable album length. Six tracks; one under three minutes- bringing the playing time to about the length of a classic Sabbath album. Wise move. A little of this kind of emotional and musical heft goes a long way. The record is perfect to listen to in one go and digest as an album.
 
As the album progresses, it doesn't bring any jauntiness to proceedings; “Apathy in Isolation” is just as downbeat as “The Union”, while “Deeper Than The Oceans” is maybe even more so, If you are expecting “Beautifully Dark” to be a three minute thrasher... think again. It is instead exactly as its title suggests. By the time of “Relive The Day”, it's clear: there is to be no respite and no hope. Much like their previous records, this is not for the faint hearted and not for those who want to rock- this won't really make you want to break the speed limit, go on a night out or even bang your head. It's beautifully depressing and relentlessly bleak.
 
Apostle of Solitude have made another great record. The band are a force to be reckoned with live, as I can attest having gigged with them a couple of times in Germany and Austria. They're also top blokes, real gents and deserving of your support. Any drummer who'll lend me their Paiste cymbals for a gig is staunch in my book- thanks Corey. So show some support, buy this record and revel in the gloom.
 
 
“Until The Darkness Goes” is available HERE 

Band info: bandcamp || facebook

REVIEW & EXCLUSIVE TRAILER: Khemmis, “Desolation” & Phil Pendergast on Hendrix, Fahey & Sonny Boy

By: Richard Maw

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 22/06/2018

Label: Nuclear Blast |

20 Buck Spin

Six tracks, all uniformly of a high standard and with a production that suits the record perfectly. This is a fine modern American doom album and will feature on many year end lists. This is doom for the doomed!

“Desolation” CD//DD//LP

1). Bloodletting

2). Isolation

3). Flesh to Nothing

4). The Seer

5). Maw of Time

6). From Ruin

The Review

Colorado's Khemmis return with this, their third full length and follow up to the very well received “Hunted” from 2016. This is doom metal, for sure- proper doom; with real singing, melodies, dark sounds and tempo changes in the vein of Sabbath.

It is not a million miles away from Sabbath or Dawn of Winter but perhaps closer to Apostle of Solitude  in that it is modern in sound and scope but with a firm grip on the genre's past. It is also distinctly American in approach- no way would you mistake this for Witchsorrow or Serpent Venom. With “Bloodletting”s slow slog to open, the listener is in no doubt that this is traditional doom. “Isolation” may be a few steps quicker, but these Denver cowboys know how to ride a groove: not too quick and they are able to make these songs swing a little rather than just plod. There is dark fare on offer here- “Flesh To Nothing”, for instance is as black as the title suggests.


The rumbling of “The Seer” is impressive and the band plays wonderfully through the changes. My personal favourite, “Maw of Time” (for obvious reasons) is a monolithic slab of sorrow and dark doom with death growls. The nine and a half minute closer “From Ruin” finishes the album off before it outstays its welcome.

Six tracks, all uniformly of a high standard and with a production that suits the record perfectly. This is a fine modern American doom album and will feature on many year end lists. This is doom for the doomed!

“Desolation” is available here

Band info: bandcamp || facebook

ALBUM REVIEW: Apostle of Solitude, "From Gold To Ash"

By: Richard Maw

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 23/02/2018

Label: Cruz Del Sur Music

“From Gold To Ash” is heavy as lead and in places just as toxic, guitars are like slabs of unyielding concrete, with the bulk of the album as dark as the blackest pitch in tone and content.  From opening instrumental “Overlord” to the closing “Grey Farewell”, Apostle of Solitude stake their claim for having recorded the best doom release of 2018.”

“From Gold To Ash” CD//DD//LP track listing:

1). Overlord

2). Ruination Be Thy Name

3). Autumn Moon

4). Keeping The Lighthouse

5). My Heart is Leaving Here

6). Monochrome (discontent)

7). Grey Farewell

The Review:

Indiana has produced some of the best metal ever in the form of The Gates of Slumber, and Apostle of Solitude continue in that fine doom tradition. Chuck Brown, the original drummer for TGOS features on guitar and vocals, keeping a nice link to the Indianapolis doom scene. This is a rumbling, raw, traditional slab of doom metal. From opening instrumental “Overlord” to the closing “Grey Farewell”, the band stake their claim for having recorded the best trad doom release of 2018.

It's heavy as lead and in places just as toxic- “Ruination Be Thy Name” is as dark as they come. There are moments of sweetness in the interlude “Autumn Moon”, but the bulk of the album is as dark as the blackest pitch in tone and content. The guitars are like slabs of unyielding concrete and bassist Mike Naish's bass sound and playing come from a man who has hands thick with muscle. Most full length songs here are well north of the six minute mark, with “Keeping The Lighthouse” being concise at 6.23, but the likes of “My Heart Is Leaving Here” clock up close to ten minutes of playing time.

With that in mind, this is not an album for the casual doom fan; this is surely for the faithful, the aficionado- the dedicated. There is a traditional heavy metal influence here in places, both within the vocal melodies and even the riffs (just a lot slower) but really this is true doom all the way. “Monochrome (Discontent)” is a fine example- speed it up and it becomes something akin to Angel Witch. By the time of “Grey Farewell”, the mood of the album- that of grey skies, cold days and unending despairing regrets- has firmly taken hold. This is not for the faint of heart and is instead for the bravest among the doom warriors out there. It's also a brilliant record; deep and dark.

“From Gold To Ash” is available here

Band info: bandcamp || facebook

'The Road to Death to False Metal': GodHunter –vs – Destroyer of Light ‘Endsville’ Tour Diary - Leg Two: Day 10-18

 By: Jake Brazelton & Keegan Kjeldsen

Day 10 - Indianapolis (Keegan from Destroyer of Light): On our very first tour, we played a place called Indy's Jukebox, which got bought out and is now called the 5th Quarter - our stop in Indianapolis for Endsville. Returning there was surreal. The last time, we played with Apostle of Solitude (who showed up this time and were nice enough to give us a place to stay) and the great Black Tusk (RIP Athon). Needless to say, it was a 'full circle' kind of moment, although the murderous stairs have been improved under new management. Conjurer slayed it hard - I was admittedly blazed out of my mind and managed to stand long enough to watch them, albeit through my shades. Yes, I wore my sunglasses at night and I didn't even bash the hell out of my shins. Indy treated both us and Godhunter very well this time. The bathrooms did not. I don't know if it's because there's literally a gym on the top floor and all the body odour just accumulates or if the innards of the bar patrons are just downright wretched (we probably contributed on that front). But all that was forgotten by the great support from a host of old and new friends and fans. The only scent that stuck with us at the end of the night was the sweet smell of love. And weed.

Day 11 - Louisville Kentucky (Jake from Godhunter): Sometimes a town has ways of surprising you. Louisville was definitely one of these kinds of towns. We rolled into town a little early so we could stop by the Lousville Deathfest to check out our buds in Immortal Bird. They were playing in what looked like a warehouse kind of building next to an abandoned silo. Immortal Bird ripped apart a sea of dudes in black shirts and their girlfriends. We then drove down to the Mag Bar which is a rad little dive in a weird part of town. Tonight was just us and Destroyer of Light so we weren't in any kind of rush to get set up. We played our set to Destroyer of Light and like one other dude but that dude bought a shirt. So we were 1 for 1 on fans in Kentucky. The owner of Mag Bar was one of the coolest dudes we met on tour. He kind of looks like a shorter hipster version of Abe Lincoln and told us approximately a million dad jokes while smoking a blunt with us.

Day 12 - Raleigh (Keegan from Destroyer of Light): It was a doomed night at The Pour House after a looong all-night and all-morning drive straight from Louisville. With multiple drivers and room enough for two to sleep, it can be done - but we don't recommend it unless you absolutely know what you're doing. If everyone's tired, pull off at a rest stop and sleep for a few hours. You don't even need to set an alarm when you tour in summer: the sun will helpfully commence with burning you to a crisp as soon as it comes up, a friendly nudge that it's time to wake up and drive. Needless to say, we spent most of our time after coming into Raleigh sleeping, dreaming of Lone Star, nachos, cowgirls and all the other things we miss about Texas. At the bar, The Hag woke us the fuck up with their punishing style of sludge-grunge, as well as Bitter Resolve, whose name fit their sound perfectly. They were aggressive and thunderous, and got the blood flowing before Endsville descended on Raleigh. For future reference: no drinking alcohol in the parks of Raleigh... Unless you have a permit.

Day 13 - Charleston, WV (Jake from Godhunter): #picklemouth 

Day 14 - Pittsburgh (Keegan from Destroyer of Light): We've been known to wax poetic about Pittsburgh, especially about the striking view of the city you get when coming in. Tunnel after tunnel through hills and mountains... then, bam. You come out onto a bridge and see the full majesty of the city: the river, the bridges, the hills, and the unique skyline. We seriously can't say enough good things about it. The weather was close to perfect and the wind was refreshing when up in the hills. But, oh yeah, there's hills everywhere, and that makes loading gear a special kind of pain in the nuts. Still, I'm always happy to return to Gooski's for more pierogies, sausage, kraut and wings: playing on Polish Hill has its benefits. After watching Slaves BC and Outlander blast the smallish room in the back of the bar, we were ready for a tight show, and Jeff and Dick jammed bass on the floor. After load-out (my favorite part of tour), Max from Dendritic Arbor was kind enough to put us up for the night, and we got cuddly with some big, fuzzy cats (my actual favorite part of tour).

Day 15 - Buffalo, NY (Jake from Godhunter):  I need to tell you guys something. Western New York is beautiful. We tried to leave early so we could hang out at Niagara Falls for a few hours but we woke up way too late so we only got to stop for fifteen minutes or so. The Falls are insane though. Mist in the air, tourists everywhere, and crazy ass ducks chilling in the water right before the falls. Crazy shit. David's cousin who live in Buffalo showed us and DoL a ton of love by cooking us up some burgers and letting us hang out before the show. We get down to Mohawk Bar where we got to watch a drunk guy get thrown out of the bar, call the cops on the bar for refusing service to him and when the cops showed up they told him "Get your shit, take your head out of your ass and get out of here." After all of this, Bastard Lord brought the hammer of doom down on the crowd before it was time for Endsville. Buffalo is an interesting place. I'd definitely play here again.

Day 16 - Brooklyn (Keegan from Destroyer of Light): Driving into NYC during rush hour is an Odyssey of torture that filled me with enough suffering to write three funeral doom records. Pro tip: iPhones can't handle New York. They can't figure out where the hell they are and you end up getting re-routed through Times fucking Square. Yeah, that happened. After our souls and bladders were crushed for several hours, we reached St. Vitus Bar and remembered why we come to New York. It felt like a metal mecca of sorts, and it was awesome to meet up with Immortal Bird again, this time to play a show. While we were unloading in a bus zone, a city bus pulled up right behind us and the driver got out. We were sure it was to tell us to move our asses, but a lady on the bus, the only passenger shouted that it wasn't her stop. The driver shrugged and said, "I'm gonna eat a sandwich at this deli. Sorry", then walked right past us. Got to meet the mighty Frank Huang of Pit Full of Shit. Immortal Bird's performance was brutal and technical, but without crossing into prog territory. After some very loud sets from the Endsville tour, we drank, partied and mourned the toll money we'd parted with earlier that day. We parted ways with tour buddies Immortal Bird, but not for the last time: Death to False Metal Fest awaits in two days!

Day 17 - Salem, MA (Jake from Godhunter): Salem might have been one of the best on this tour. We got into the witchy world of Salem early so we could check out some of the sights before the party started. We got a taste of what the witch trials were like by seeing the re-enactment and dungeon tour at the Witch Dungeon Museum before checking out some of the cemeteries. After we got done with all of our touristy bullshit, we got to one of the most strangest venues we have ever played, Koto Sushi Restaurant. I've never played an actual sit down restaurant before so I had no idea what to expect but fuck Salem, you dudes know how to party. We had people who came out to the show from Boston and some from as far as Maine to see this show. After letting the close the sit down aspect of the restaurant, the bands set up on the floor across from the bar. After the venue filled up, Led to the Grave thrashed and shredded the energetic crowd and set everything up perfectly for Endsville to lay waste to Koto. During our set, an extremely inebriated dude was rocking out a bit too hard and almost knocked over Dick before his buddy took him off somewhere to sleep it off for the night. After wrapping up the music we shared some booze and stories with all of our new friends, it was time to hit the road again. Salem fucking rules and Koto fucking rules.

Day 18 - Hamden, Death to False Metal Fest (Keegan from Destroyer of Light): We've been calling this the 'traffic tour', because we've managed to hit awful traffic almost every drive so far, and the road to Death to False Metal was no different. Jeff walked side-by-side with the van for a bit as we inched along, because sometimes you gotta smoke and we weren't going faster than walking distance. We rolled into the parking lot with little time to spare before loading in gear for Godhunter's set. The Outer Space stage where we both played was agonizingly small - and given the size of the room and the loudness of the bands there, I'm guessing it was incredibly loud. I'm guessing because my hearing has been systematically destroyed already, so who knows. Needless to say, I approve of that: Godhunter, Destroyer of Light and Secret Cutter all shared gear and blasted the audience in what could only be called a 'heavy metal lounge party'. Just outside, metalheads strummed away at acoustic guitars, and finally Archaic Decapitator finished the night on the small stage with their technical death assault. Meanwhile, at the ballroom, Grizzlor's raw, reckless abandon was followed up by the power doom of Demon Eye and Nasty Disaster's nasty brand of heavy metal. Immortal Bird kicked up the harshness and freakout level in preparation for Krieg's black metal blitz. Good people run this fest, and I can only hope that the discovery of another fest with the same name will only be a minor hurdle: while the fest may not be keeping the name, every band performed their asses off. Hats off to everyone involved.

Band info: Godhunter Facebook| DOL Facebook

Apostle of Solitude - Of Woe & Wounds (Album Review)

Album Type: Full-Length

Release Date: 15/11/2014

Label: Cruz Del Sur Music

“Of Woe and Wounds” CD/DD/LP track list:

1). Distance and the Cold Heart

2). Blackest Of Times

3). Whore's Wings

4). Lamentations of a Broken Man

5). Die Vicar Die

6). Push Mortal Coil

7). This Mania

8). Siren

9). Luna

10). Distance And The Cold Heart (Reprise)

Bio:

In life there is death. In happiness, in hope, and in love there is also tragedy. There is hopelessness, despair, and grief. There is Apostle of Solitude. True American Doom Metal in its most raw, unfiltered, sincere form. Apostle of Solitude rose from the ashes of The Keep in the autumn of 2004, releasing the self-titled demo in autumn of 2005 and the “Embraced by the Black” demo in early 2007, before releasing the massive Sincerest Misery full length debut on Eyes like Snow Records in October 2008. While Sincerest Misery took the international metal community by storm and quickly catapulted the band to the forefront of “required listening” bands in Doom, the band’s sophomore follow-up, Last Sunrise, is set to go even further down the path that Sincerest Misery began, taking the listener even deeper into these beautiful cold depths of sorrow and ruin.

For every new dawn there is also a Last Sunrise. That cold day of reckoning when it becomes all too clear that tomorrow may never come. There is a certain clarity in this realization that makes today that much more critical in one’s quest for knowledge and truth.

As evidenced by the band’s live performances, notably at the Born Too Late fest in Baltimore, MD and the Templars of Doom (third crusade) fest in Indianapolis, IN, the live arena is one in which the band thrives, and where the primal intensity and raw emotion of Apostle of Solitude can be witnessed firsthand.

The Band:

Corey Webb | drums

Dan Davidson | bass

Chuck Brown | guitar/vox

Steve Janiak | guitar

Review:

Our American answer to the current British and Scandinavian invasion of doom, Apostle of Solitude's newest puts everyone on notice just how good they are going to need to be after hearing this one. Beginning with a NOLA-esque southern fried interlude Apostle of Solitude's newest “Of Woe and Wounds” sets the tone right off the bat seamlessly transitioning into the second track's awesome doom opening riff. This is the kind of riff that crowds can’t help but infectiously headbang in unison, pure unadulterated doom majesty. I also feel it worth mentioning just how fantastic the vocals are, it's so nice to hear decent singing and this guy has a really unique and interesting style.

After hearing “Die Vicar Die” you too will want him to die. A riveting and epic track with a stirring bridge and fantastic intro, topping it off with some delicious ecstasy inducing wah solo. Can't help but wish Apostle of Solitude would have let rip with a longer solo here, however this is one of my few complaints with the album. Indeed you better have a fire extinguisher handy because this dude rips on guitar when he does short leads throughout the album. The sixth track “Push Mortal Coil” pushes the rhythm guitar into chugging riff mode, reminiscent of Mercyful Fate's first track on their classic “Don't Break The Oath.” The bridge on “Push Mortal Coil” is pretty damn badass with some unusual open sounding hanging riffs. This is the most artistically pleasing track on the album for those of us who like our music snobby (like me).

“This Mania” might be the most intense track on the album with some furious stomping riffs over the first two minutes, making you wish you were in a crowd jumping around. There's just something about chugging triplets that's just damn fun to listen to. On the 3^rd to last track “Siren” once the verse kicks in, it has a very unusual guitar riff that I can only describe as being Medieval-inspired or possibly Celtic in origin. Its syncopation reminds me of some bagpipe tunes, my cousins used to play when they got drunk at weddings. Tantalizing us with another short but awesome solo near the end, I repeat ‘tear down this wall Mr. Gorbachev and let this man shred’.

The answer to the question, why do songs about chicks always end up being the longest tracks on every album has never been answered. That being said the second to last track “Luna” is in fact epic and awesome with a slew of funeral dirge guitars and mournful vocals. Keeping the tempo low and slow this is perhaps the doomiest track on the record and Apostle of Solitude fully commits to the riff on this one.

The overall mix is fantastic, drums are nice and clear across the spectrum and have a nice loose John Bonham sound. The guitars are clear and huge and the bass is fuzzy and warm. This is one of the best albums I've been sent to review so far and should be in many top 10 Year end lists.  For fans of Sabbath inspired early 80s underground metal, they strike me as the kind of band that draws half hipsters and half motorcycle gangs. Finally, I bet they rule live.  The vinyl edition will also have two bonus tracks.

Words by: Chris Tedor

You can pick up a copy here

For more information:

https://apostleofsolitude.bandcamp.com/

http://apostleofsolitude.com/

https://www.facebook.com/apostleofsolitude