Doomed - Anna (CD)

death doom metal, Solitude Productions, Solitude Productions
600.00 Р
Цена в баллах: 900 баллов
SP. 117-16 x
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Новый, пятый по счёту, альбом от немецкого проекта Doomed, набравшего обороты в сочинении и исполнении техничного death doom metal. С одной стороны, можно наблюдать у автора проекта тенденцию к концептуальности материала и оформления, а также в стремлении создавать продуманный, качественный материал, с привлечением гостевых вокалистов (на этот раз среди приглашённых и участник группы Camel Of Doom). С другой стороны, ощущается тенденция к усложнению композиций, использованию брутальных вставок, при сохранении мелодичности материала. Прогрессивность альбома – один из главных моментов, не подавляющий другие достоинства проекта, открыть которые предстоит слушателям.

Треклист:
I Your Highness The Chaos 8:49
II Anna 3:59
III As The Thoughts Began To Be Tarnish 6:57
IV The Weeping Trees 9:52
V Withering Leaves 10:18
VI Roots Remain 1:51
VII The Frozen Wish 8:52

Артист:
Doomed
Страна артиста:
Germany
Год альбома:
2016
Название:
Anna
Стиль:
death doom metal
Формат:
Compact Disk
Тип:
CD
Упаковка:
Jewel Case
Доп. информация:
20-page booklet
Лейбл:
Solitude Productions
Кат. номер:
SP. 117-16
Год издания:
2016
Штрих-код:
4 627080 611078
Страна-производитель:
Russia
Review
Doom Metal Front
21.09.2016

There are highly overrated bands, worn out bands, awfully bad bands, trendy bands, the classics, of course, and there is DOOMED. This Germany based band is different in many ways: they dig top quality when it comes to composing new music, they do not sound like the genre’s blue prints, they don’t even hail the weed or do silly things a couple of bands think it would be necessary to become famous in the doom metal scene.
DOOMED simply serves quality, which is raised on the next level of perfection with every album. Thus with “Anna”, which is the fifth full-length’s name. It comes with stunning self-made artwork continuing the idea about the individual disaster wars and conflicts mean for an innocent child’s life. The story starts “at the moment of the shooting of Anna’s father during the deportation of the family, the gates of her psyche open and accompany her until an indefinite end. In her imagination – and who knows – maybe even in her reality there is no surrender. Not in life and not in death”, Pierre Laube says about the album’s content following an consistent story line throughout the facetted tracks that serve multi-layered emotions like utter aggressiveness in the form of brutal death riffage combined with abyssal grunts, also wonderful and desperate melodies at the same time.
It doesn’t matter in which mood or circumstance you are in the very moment, “Anna” fits perfectly and manages to tickle your inner self out – the brute or the mourner. Neither is “Anna” a pure Doom nor a straight Death Metal album, it serves both extremely ass kicking blast passages as well as rolled out funeral grief – smart interwoven, rarely following the common a-b-a-b concept. The album is not intended to please, it is touching on a deeper level of emotion, unsettling, dystopian – it’s disturbingly beautiful, or beautifully disturbing? Fact: quality is their saviour, DOOMED thy name!

Author: Sven Mihlan
Review
No Clean Singing
23.09.2016

The new album Anna by the German project Doomed is astonishing — astonishing in its conception, astonishing in its execution. Immensely evocative, as intricate and meticulously crafted as a Byzantine mosaic, and as staggeringly heavy as a cascade of bunker-busting bombs, in all ways I can think of it’s one of the most powerful albums I’ve heard this year.
Now, how do I back up those over-the-top accolades? I will try, but fortunately I don’t have to rely entirely on my own strained efforts, because at the end of this post a full stream of the album awaits you. Be good to yourself, and seize the chance to hear it in advance of its September 26 release by Solitude Productions.

Anna is a massive monument of sound, seven tracks totaling 53 minutes — and that’s not counting bonus tracks that serve as added inducements for a special edition of the album. But the significant length of Anna isn’t the heart of what makes the album such a monumental experience. It’s the sound itself: The music is titanically heavy — and often brutally destructive on a vast scale.
The pounding you endure from the earth-quaking drum beats and the pile-driving bass rhythms is enough to smash normal human skeletons into fragments too small to see, and the usually slow, bridge-collapsing riffs are often just as cold and mercilessly crushing, It’s the kind of near-physical trauma that could leave a person beaten and exhausted after an hour of it, particularly when accompanied by the music’s predominantly oppressive and chilling overhang of catastrophe and bereavement. But it doesn’t wear you out because the titanic force that forms the spine of the album is only one aspect of the music.
But before coming to some of the many other facets of the music, there are still more ingredients and techniques that Doomed employs to stagger the senses. In addition to a heavily distorted tone in the low end, the dominant vocals are cavernous and ghastly — truly monstrous, jagged proclamations and explosions of fury.

To amplify the decimating impact even further, Doomed sets these heaviest elements of the music against contrasting tonalities and volume levels, causing those heavy elements to explode with shocking force just as you’ve fallen into a spell of introspection. Moreover, the decimating effect of the music isn’t limited to catastrophic hammering and pile-driving.
To pick one example, the first minute and a half of “Withering Leaves” is a fine example of how richly textured the music on the album can be. It’s a slow, dreamlike amalgam of ringing guitar notes, the scratchy tones of what sounds like a violin or flute, an array of unidentifiable ambient sounds (including something with a rhythmic beat), and vocal samples. But no sooner have you become thoroughly engrossed in that bewildering manipulation of the senses than the music erupts in a stunning display of ferocity — something like the sound of a heavy-caliber machine-gun, augmented by massive stomping riffs, dissonant arpeggios, and gruesome roars.
That’s not the only time when Doomed catches the listener off-guard. The opening track “Your Highness the Chaos”, for example, is very eerie and hypnotic at the beginning. I can’t tell whether the unusual tones in the intro are produced by guitar effects, violin, or cello (I have now learned that it’s a bass guitar played with an E-Bow). There’s the voice of a woman, who sounds like she’s singing a lullaby over a slow, heavy bass line. Other strange and unsettling sounds are also present — and none of this prepares you for the blasting, hammering, and dissonance that eventually hits like a bombardment. The entire song has an air of tension and peril; it’s unnerving — but the main riff really gets its hooks in your head. And then there’s the guitar solo, which is wonderful.

There’s no joy to be found in this album, but there is beauty and a kind of soulfulness — enough to leaven the cold and cataclysmic nature of the main assaults. The main tone of the guitar leads and the solos is high and reverberating, striking a contrast with the immensity of the low end, and they’re all really exceptional. The serpentine melody that snakes its way through “As the Thoughts Began To Tarnish” is exotic, with an ethnic Indian resonance; the long solo in the final minutes of “The Weeping Trees” is achingly beautiful and full of soul; the solo in “Withering Leaves” is intensely mournful; and equally masterful lead and solo performances are present in every song.
Yet the lead guitar parts on this album are just as often deranged, dissonant, and abrasive. The main object of the music, after all, is plainly to convey harrowing emotional intensity, to create an unsettling atmosphere of tension, torment, and even terror
There are some interesting variations in the vocal deliveries, too, thanks in part to guest appearances. The high, ghostly, arcing vocals of Daniela Laube on “The Weeping Trees” provide one striking contrast, and Ed Warby’s clean, classic doom vocals on the closing track, “The Frozen Wish” are a big and highly successful surprise.
Music as inventive, as intricate, and as ingenious as these songs often calls down the label of “progressive” — and so yes, I could call Anna “progressive doom/death”. But as elaborate as it is, the music at its core is almost too heavy and primal to warrant sticking that loaded word on the front of a genre reference, and it may be misleading in other ways. Perhaps “doom/death with experimental nuances” would be better. But let’s just say it’s an impassioned work of mad genius that will stay with you and pull you back like filings to a magnet.

There’s one more explanation for why the album is so remarkable: it is largely the work of one man — Pierre Laube, who does almost everything, from instruments to vocals to programming, from lyrics to production to the artwork. He did have some talented help, however. Here’s the list of guest appearances:
Ed Warby (Hail Of Bullets, Ayreon, The 11th Hour, ex-Gorefest) – lead vocals on “The Frozen Wish”
Markus Hartung (Panzerkreuzer) – additional vocals on “Your Highness The Chaos”
Kris Clayton (Camel Of Doom, ex-Esoteric) – additional vocals on “Withering Leaves”
Daniela Laube – additional backing vocals on “The Weeping Trees”
Uwe Reinholz (Oak Ridge) – additional guitar solo on “Wither Leaves”

What motivated a masterstroke such as Anna? You listen to it, and the intensity is so palpable that you know the emotional and creative fuel had a specific source. And so it did. Anna is a concept album, explained by Pierre Laube as follows:
“Children – the most innocent of all involved in war and conflicts – often have nothing but their own individual protection mechanism. This mechanism — here Anna’s inner — combines the images of the experience and adds them to a grotesque painting — ominous, but a refuge.
“Always threatened by chaos, fear and death — but there are growing strength, longing and willpower. At the moment of the shooting of her father during the deportation of the family, the gates of her psyche open and accompany her until an indefinite end. In her imagination — and who knows, maybe even in her reality — there is no surrender. Not in life and not in death! As what happens, so consequently the musical themes have a strong bond and can not be separated this time.”
Laube continues, describing Anna as a “personal statement against political and religious fanaticism, the influencing, persecution and oppression of free thinking. I detest the dullness of blind obedience, opportunism and the deadhearted executing of commands. But what Anna hears, sees and feels, is content. Her way is representative of thousands of lowbrow children of her time, also for uncountable war children of past, present and future periods – NO MATTER WHAT ORIGIN!”

As noted, Anna will be released by Solitude Productions on September 26, and the physical manifestations of the album seem as ambitious and well-crafted as the music. The CD will be delivered with a 20-page booklet, which will also be downloadable as a PDF along with the digital version of the album. There will also be a Wooden Edition limited to 10 copies and including two bonus tracks (“This Seceptive Silence” and “Remembrance”), as well as a 96-page “Book Of Silhouettes” art and photo book, and a poster.

Author: Islander
Review
Gorger’s Metal
05.10.2016

The Germans with the characteristic green cover arts are back to spread genuine grief and discomfort.
For those who have no knowledge of Doomed, the band plays death/doom with sadness and misery а la funeral, but with a more vital and progressive approach.
Unlike all too many home-made one-man bands, Doomed it what it may be tempting to call a professional one-man band. Except from a few guests, mainly vocalists, the full burden lies on Pierre Laube’s shoulders, and Anna is his fifth Doomed album since 2011.
Expand/Collapse
The previous album, Wrath Monolith was discussed when it was released in May last year.

One of the band’s strengths are the beautiful and well-written melodies in fusion with heaviness and depression. The music is layered as different acids and toxins on the skin. First, the skin etches away before the venom spreads unhindered. The bright proggy guitars in the first song sets the immune system completely out of action, unable to take note of the discordant undertones.
The title song is, with the exception of the brief piano interlude Roots Remain, the albums shortest song. In four minutes, Anna triggers a strong neurotoxin that makes the psyche collapse completely.

Another strength is namely the moods that are conjured up. These are not directly convenient for the faint hearted. The mental feeling of something askew spreads to the abdominal region. The alarming feelings after a dispute that went too far, and where one is left with a sore and distressing sensation of larvae in the stomach. Dispirited black thoughts creep up on the listener and poisons the mind, much like the feelings after a party with too large amounts of fluids and black holes in the memory that evokes a nagging suspicion of a a lapse from grace concerning social relations.
The ten minutes long track Withering Leaves is just evil. Far in the background, happy jazz а la ragtime can sometimes be tracked, hidden behind an ominous layer of frenetic vocals and dystopian swarms of steel strings.

The peculiar melody lines, the layering and proggy structure and the claustrophobic moods shows a band that doesn’t just glue together different riffs and song segments to create longer songs, but who has composed coherent pieces without leaving anything to chance. Even the lyrical aspect follows the same path, as Pierre once again have constructed a concept album. This in turn requires something from the listener. Time. Surrender without resistance, and provide Anna with what she demands. For as you’re very well aware of, resistance is futile.
Review
Femforgacs
10/10
08.10.2016

Amíg a Morbid Angel ábécé sorrendben adja ki a lemezeit, a Nile egyiptomi istenek köré szövi a zenéjét, vagy amíg a Baroness a színek bűvöletében alkot, addig Pierre Laube zöld-fekete rémálmainak egyedi hangulatú illusztrációiban nyilvánítja ki egyik sajátosságát a sok közül. Sokkal több rejlik ezen a borítón is, mint az első ránézésre feltűnne. A kép minden szeglete az iszonyat arcának egy-egy újabb barázdáját rajzolja meg – ismét a zene mélyen gyökeredző hangulatát ragadva meg vele.

Nem kell sokáig nézegetnünk a képet, ahhoz, hogy Annáról azonnal Anne Frank jusson eszünkbe, ám e rendkívül kifejező név nem egyetlen gyermekáldozatra utal, hanem minden olyan gyermekre, aki szenvedett vagy áldozatául esett a vallási és politikai fanatizmus gerjesztette háborúk bármelyikében. Én magam mindig is úgy gondoltam, hogy a gyermekek azok, akik még képesek kristálytisztán látni, akikben élesen elválik a jó a rossztól, és akiknek szemét még nem takarja el az érdekek és ideológiák ferde világnézete. Az ebből fakadó, szívből jövő őszinteségük és a meg nem fertőzött ártatlanságuk az, amelyet, ha elhalni lát az ember, a lehető legnagyobb fájdalomként él meg. Ilyen súlyos témát boncolva, aligha lehet úgy zenét alkotni, hogy az komfortérzettel töltse el annak hallgatóját. A zaklatott hangvételű, ám rendkívül inspirált death/doom zenekar, a német Doomed, alig egy év elteltével ott folytatja, ahol a Wrath Monolith lemezzel abbahagyta, azaz a csúcson. Az is kimondottan szimpatikus, hogy Laube nem vacakol splitekkel, kislemezekkel, miegymással, hiszen amennyiben a kívánt hangulatot meg akarja teremteni, tudja, hogy ahhoz nagylemezre lesz szüksége.

Az első néhány hallgatás még a szavakkal továbbra is nehezen kifejezhető Wrath Monolith album jóleső kényelmén keresztül szűrődött át, szóval nem véletlenül vártam bő két hetet eme ismertető megírásával, amely idő alatt szinte minden nap lement a korong. Ennyi meghallgatás után akár jóra is hallgathattam volna, sőt, meg is unhattam volna a lemezt, azonban Anna köré minden hallgatással magasabbra tétetett a szögesdrót-kerítés, mely azóta is egyre mélyebben vág bele törékeny gyermektestébe. Nem vitás, hogy az év egyik legjobb albumáról beszélek, amelyre bizonyíték legalább ezernyi található az itt hallható hét dalban. Pierre Laube elképesztő témákkal állt elő, és úgy játssza továbbra is saját stílusát, hogy még az ötödik nagylemezén is képes szívbemarkolóan fogalmazni, sőt, újdonságokkal szolgálni.

Az Anna címmel megjelent lemez az „unalmas” jelző tökéletes ellentéte. Akárhányszor hallgatom, eleven képek peregnek a szemem előtt, és ugyebár, ezt nem mondhatom el akármelyik lemezről. A hadviselés alatt álló ország egyszeri emberének gyötrelmei, a rettegés pillanatképei, a lebombázott városok romjai között botorkáló árvák rezzenései, s a temetők sírköveire homályosodott fekete-fehér gyermekfotók ezrei: ilyen világot tár fel a lemez, mindezt a zene segítségével.

A negyvenes éveket idéző hangfelvétel bejátszása mellett hátborzongató bőgőhangokat, lépteket és kétségbeesést hallani az album első pillanataiban, melyet a gitár húrjainak életre keltése követ szövevényes, tekergődző, érzelmekkel átitatott formában. Az alapot a súlyos… mit súlyos, az embert földdel azonnal betemető death/doom témák jelentik, hol gyorsabb tempóban száguldva a megsemmisülés felé, hol csontokat törő lassú lánctalpakon araszolva. Lépten-nyomon fel-felbukkannak a lemez díszítő elemei, melyekben nem szűkölködik az 50 perces anyag. Ha az apró, de jelentős, sőt, káprázatos elemek nyújtotta érzést kellene szemléltetnem, akkor azt egy sötét, ódon temetőhöz hasonlítva tenném meg. A sötétségen kívül először semmit sem látni, ám ahogy ott üldögél az ember, a temető különböző pontjain gyertyalángok lobbannak fel, percről percre egyre több, míg végül egyrészt megvilágítják a sírokat, a fejfákra rótt neveket, a fákat és a koszorúkat, másrészt a gyönyörű panoráma megteremti azt a gyászos, ugyanakkor kétségtelenül szívet melengető, mégis félelmetes hangulatot, amelyhez köthető lelkiállapotot csak átérezni lehet, leírni semmiképp.
Ilyen gitárdallamokat csak az tud írni, aki már eleve hallja azokat előtörni önnön belsőjéből. Az egész lemezre rátelepedő, indaszerűen kígyózó melódiák óriási plusszal és egyéniséggel törnek az ég felé. A rövid és ultralassú címadó utolsó néhány pillanatában pedig magát a rettegést sikerült hangokba préselni. Az őrület igazi arca először az As the Thoughts Began to Be Tarnish dalban fogalmazódik meg, melyben olyan beteg hangjáték ékesíti az ólomdoom riffeket, hogy az ember szeme azon nyomban kikerekedik a döbbenettől. Emellett a dalban egy csodaszép szóló is hallható. A hegedű elégikus hangja nyitja a majd’ 10 perces The Weeping Trees dalt. Ebben Daniela Laube hangja is felcsendül, ami a megannyi drámai pillanat egyike. Érdemes minden hallgatásnál a lemez újabb, korábban meg nem figyelt részleteire figyelni, hogy a teret kapott basszusgitár nagyszerű momentumait is ki tudjuk élvezni.

A szintén 10 perc körüli Withering Leaves a kedvencem. Baljós és egyben szomorú dallamok alá úszik be lágyan a zongora, majd egy német nyelvű, vidámnak tűnő hangfelvétel is, mely összetétel már az első perctől megadja a dal groteszk jellegét. De ami ezután jön, attól leesett az állam, és azóta sem tértem magamhoz. Szőnyegbombázással egyenértékű pusztítást végez a maga után csak krátereket hagyó riff-monstrum, s akit nem temet végleg maga alá, azt ezer darabra tép. Az ezt követő (disz)harmóniákhoz pedig ép elmével nem érdemes közelíteni, hiszen az általuk vetített képek létrejöttét maga a borzalom táplálja.

A záró tételt megelőző szép zongorajáték a korábban említett égő gyertyák egyik legfényesebbikeként ragyog. A döbbenetes című The Frozen Wish pedig az előző lemez utolsó dalánál is különlegesebb. Ed Warby (Ayreon / Hail of Bullets dobos) tiszta éneke kifejező, és remekül illeszkedik a dalhoz, kiegészítve Laube mély és erőteljes hörgését.

A death/doom műfajt kiszélesítő, eszközeiben, megoldásaiban előremutató, kreativitásban tobzódó zenét hallhatunk a Doomed idei lemezén is, s én már csak abbéli óhajomat fejezném ki, hogy az a kút, amelyből az alkotó merít, a jövőben se apadjon ki.

Author: farrrkas
Review
Iye Zine
8.6/10
12.10.2016

I Doomed, creati da Pierre Laube cinque anni fa, sono diventati in poco tempo uno dei nomi più interessanti della scena death doom europea.
A questo non ha contribuito solo la prolificità del musicista tedesco che, in media, ha pubblicato un full length all’anno, ma anche e soprattutto la qualità dei suoi lavori ai quali si unisce una indubbia peculiarità sonora.
Con Anna, i Doomed (tecnicamente un progetto solista di Laube, il quale ricorre però a diverse collaborazioni al momento dell’incisione dei dischi, diventando una band vera e propria in sede live) raggiungono il picco della loro produzione, grazie ad un songrwiting aspro ed intenso e ad un’esecuzione di grande spessore esaltata da una produzione perfetta.
L’album ruota attorno ad un concept piuttosto crudo che, descrivendo la storia di Anna, bambina che ha visto morire il padre durante la deportazione nazista, prende in esame il dramma della guerra visto e subìto dalla parte dei bambini, un argomento ben presente, purtroppo, in ogni fase della storia dell’umanità.
Il sound risente a livello di umore dei temi trattati, anche se per assurdo i momenti melodici persistono ugualmente e tutto sommato in misura non minore rispetto al passato: il fatto è che questi sono perfettamente inglobati all’interno di un mood drammatico, a tratti così violento da restituire pari pari la rabbia ed il dolore che l’argomento riesce ad evocare.
Il fulcro di Anna lo si ritrova nella sua parte centrale, quando due brani magnifici quanto differenti come The Weeping Trees e Withering Lives tratteggiano un’immagine nitida delle doti compositive di Pierre Laube: se nella prima traccia l’effetto straniante viene provocato da un intreccio vocale tra il nostro e la cognata Daniela, tra dissonanze ed aperture melodiche (qui l’assolo di chitarra è magnifico), la seconda è una vera e propria mazzata che si concretizza tramite una ritmica squadrata, riff pesantissimi e lo screaming dell’ospite Kris Clayton (Camel Of Doom) che ne moltiplica il livello di efferatezza.
Come detto anche in passato, il death doom dei Doomed è sovente sbilanciato sulla prima componente a livello sonoro, ma della seconda è del tutto intriso l’umore di un sound compresso da un livore sordo che ben esprime la reazione dell’artista nei confronti degli avvenimenti descritti.
Doomed è ormai un marchio di qualità all’interno della scena, così come lo è la tipica copertina a sfondo verde che contraddistingue ogni sua uscita, diventata ormai un appuntamento fisso in grado di ricordarci che il doom può essere anche una forma di reazione decisa nei confronti delle brutture che ci circondano, e non solo un malinconico e disperato ripiegarsi su sé stessi che è, invece, il leit motiv della sua frangia più melodica.
Entrambe le opzioni, comunque, sono assolutamente gradite, anzi, direi di più, necessarie …

Author: Stefano Cavanna
Review
Pavillon 666
9/10
17.10.2016

Doomed, qui est l’oeuvre de l’Allemand Pierre Laube, existe depuis 2011 et fort en cette année 2016 de 5 albums , avec le petit dernier “Anna” sorti il y a quelques semaines. Pour notre part nous allons nous intéresser à la quatrième sortie de Monsieur Laube : “Wrath Monolith”.

Pour commencer il est à noter que Pierre Laube est un artiste à part entière, c’est-à-dire que l’objet de la chronique du jour est pensé et fait de A à Z par lui. Donc au premier abord cette pochette inquiétante. Faite d’ombres sur fond vert, elle est une vrai réussite fourmillant de détails. Des détails qui feront sans aucun doute plaisir aux fans du Seigneur des Anneaux, tant l’influence de Tolkien est palpable sur cette pochette. Petit bonus sur le gâteau le livret se déplie pour laisser place à un petit poster. Bien pensé (j’ai pas dit innovant, mais j’apprécie ce genre d’attentions)!

“Wrath Monolith” est donc un concept à part entière, un album de Doom Death metal de qualité qui fait la part belle aux riffs dissonants, ce qui le rend à mon sens si singulier. Car jamais la musique n’est prémâchée pour l’auditeur, non elle exige un certain travail de concentration, c’est fouillé et détaillé. Plusieurs écoutes vous seront nécessaires pour appréhender les subtilités. Malgré la longueur de certains morceaux, tel “Parodoxon” et ses 12 minutes, on ne s’ennuie jamais et la surprise est toujours au rendez-vous.

Doomed sait varier son propos en proposant de nombreux tempos tout au long du disque, que ce soit dans un Doom contemplatif ou un Death metal de la vieille école (Obituary et Bolt Thrower sont à mon avis des inspirations pour certains riffs). Les vocaux sont variés et ce grâce à quelques collaborations bienvenues.

La production “Maison” est de grande qualité. “Wrath Monolith” est un disque auquel vous devez donner sa chance, que vous soyez aficionado du genre ou non, il y a derrière une vraie démarche et un vrai concept. Ce serait dommage de passer à côté.

Author: xgringodefuegox
Review
Kaosguards
18/20

Comme nous avons déjà eu l’occasion de le souligner à deux reprises à propos des albums « In My Own Abyss » (relire ici ) et « Our Ruin Silhouettes » (ici ), le projet solo DOOMED reprend à son compte les éléments clés du Doom Death Metal pour mieux les dépasser.

Et c’est encore une fois avéré sur ce cinquième album de grande qualité.

La lenteur des tempos, la lourdeur des rythmiques, l’épaisseur des riffs de guitare, ainsi que la noirceur qui teinte l’ambiance générale de cet album, autant de caractéristiques qui sont en provenance directe du Doom Metal. Les garants de la part Death Metal sont le chant masculin, caverneux, inarticulé et grave, ainsi que certaines accélérations par moments à la limite du blast beat.

Avouons que, s’il n’y avait que ces éléments archi-classiques, DOOMED ne serait qu’une formation parmi tant d’autres. Heureusement, l’âme pensante de DOOMED, Pierre Laube, enrichit ses compositions de riffs tordus qui confèrent à certains passages une aura Post Metal qui renforce la dimension noire, voire angoissante de l’album. Par ailleurs, les plages plus atmosphériques prennent leurs aises, notamment dans les compositions les plus étendues. Bien que les atmosphères ainsi instillées puis développées soient généralement tout aussi porteuses de malaise que les parties typiquement Metal, elles créent des contrastes porteurs de dynamisme, dans un genre bien souvent guetté par l’uniformité répétitive.

Enfin, sur le titre « The Weeping Trees », un chant féminin (celui de Daniela Laube, soit-elle bénie pour son expressivité et pour sa maîtrise dans l’interprétation!) apporte une plus-value incroyable. On ne parle pas ici de ce type de chant féminin enjôleur, faire-valoir niaiseux des grondements masculins. Non, il s’agit bien d’un chant habité par un malaise existentiel, dans un registre médium, sans afféteries ni pathos inutiles. Il s’agit à coup sûr d’une piste à développer, tant elle convient parfaitement à l’expression des tourments de l’âme humaine qui semble consubstantielle à DOOMED. Un jugement tout aussi laudateur peut être apporté au titre « The Frozen Wish » qui bénéficie du concours vocal d’Ed Warby (batteur historique de GOREFEST, ELEGY, AYREON, mais aussi chanteur dans le projet THE 11TH HOUR).

Tous styles musicaux confondus, « Anna » s’impose comme une œuvre musicalement, conceptuellement et émotionnellement imposante, d’une profondeur rare.

Author: Alain Lavanne
Review
Metal Trenches
8/10
18.10.2016

It’s time again for more DOOMED! This german death/doom band was one of the earlier bands I reviewed for the site, and definitely one to get me more interested in this genre. Their 2015 effort, Wrath Monolith persists at being one of my favorite doom albums of the year and perhaps even above all. But now we welcome DOOMED’s latest effort, Anna, one-man mastermind Pierre Laube’s concept album about political and religious fanaticism. How appropriate for an election year.

When last I left DOOMED, I had praised the project for delving further into the extreme death metal sound and fusing it more fully with the funeral doom elements than on previous releases. Maturation continues on Anna, with all of the previous growth intact, but now delving into a bit more experimentation. Mind you, I’m not talking mind-blowing, avant-garde elements; but rather a few forays off the band’s usual beaten path. The trademarks certainly remain. By now the guitar tones and riffing style have become so synonymous with this band that I could pick out a song within 5 seconds tops. Crunchy, palm-muted chords with some zesty pinch harmonics are layered with a lattice of sinuous, effects-laden picking and sliding. It’s an approach I find engaging and ripe for little hooks.

As for the changes, there are a few. The one I noticed first was the vocals. While they still largely maintain the deep death growls found on Wrath Monolith, the production feels slightly different and the delivery feels a bit more gargly and brutal than before. There are also some shorter tracks, which is a marked departure from the general format. “Anna” is under 4 minutes and definitely the strangest song on the album. It features a very moody funeral emphasis, complimented by very gloomy, gothic whispers and spoken word. As the track progresses, these voices become more layered and contorted with various effects before erupting back into a snarl. While not my favorite track, it is one that certainly left an impression.

“Roots Remain” may be the shortest track to date, but it is a pretty standard (and quite pretty) piano interlude. I also like the return of the Septic Flesh-like clean vocals on “The Frozen Wish,” which along with “As The Thoughts Began To Be Tarnish,” is a favorite song of mine. If you liked Wrath Monolith’s “Looking Back,” you’ll know what to expect from this closer. Again, these are not massive surprises, but rather a few things that jumped out at me as I was listening to the album.

I do have one complaint about this album, though it’s a small one: I don’t fancy the mixing job on “Your Highness The Chaos.” The guitars are really loud making the vocals, which already have a low register due to their depth, sometimes barely audible. Simply bringing up the volume on the growls a few notches could have made a wonder of difference.

But by and large, I really dig Anna. DOOMED continues to prove that funeral doom doesn’t have to evoke images of weeping in the dark and smearing your eyeliner; it can be interesting, riff-driven, and above all heavy as any death metal record. The instrumentation and compositions on all of these tracks have a nice flow throughout the album, and little additions of strings (“The Weeping Trees”) and other instruments continue to be tasteful and additive to the overall concept. And as always, I love the mixture of abrupt pummeling (“Withering Leaves”) with brighter, rock guitar leads and solos. There is a reason I continue to pimp this band’s name above all other doom groups, and it is time that more people started to take notice. Stream Anna below.
Review
Metal Nexus
29.10.2016

Doomed is a one man army conjuring up amazing doom from Germany. Pierre Laube is the man that does it all. Instruments, concepts, vocals, artwork and production he is fully in charge of his art and it knows no boundaries. The band was formed in 2011 and have 4 albums released thus far. The most recent album marks their 5th album which released September 26, 2016 titled ‘Anna’via Solitude Productions. The new release ‘Anna’ is a concept album about the repercussions of war and the album is full of those haunting, emotive moments without straying away from the solid death/doom music that they’re known for. The album features guest appearances from members of Hail Of Bullets, The 11th Hour, Camel Of Doom and others.

Doomed’s album ANNA starts out with a slow skin crawling eeriness. The track “Your Highness The Chaos” really kicks in around the 2 minute mark. Harsh vocals ignite and meld with the bands great musicianship. The double bass drum is felt like thunder. The guitar speed picks up as the song progresses. The vocals and the music aren’t a normal pairing, but it works perfectly. Their is a distinction in the music that truly makes it their own. The title track “Anna” begins with a hypnotizing guitar riff. Then you hear this sinister whisper and you hang on the singers every word. “Anna” is slow but amazingly hostile. The beautiful music meshed with the harsh and whisper like vocals is an unusual but perfect pairing. “Withering Leaves” has a very somber beginning, backed by some almost celebratory 30’s show tune music. The somber tone’s doesn’t last long. Less than 2 minutes into the song everything turns to pure hatred. Singer!!!’s untamed growl is unleashed along with the machine gun blasting double bass drum. The winding guitars create the perfect backdrop for the tone.The concept of the album is of course repercussions of war, but the album also has a theme of nature based on it’s titles like “The Weeping Trees”, “Withering Leaves”, and “Roots Remain”. With a name liked Doomed you think you know what you’re in for right? Wrong, this isn’t your run of the mill doom band, they have so many layers of sound that each listen unveils new characteristics. It’s an album you truly have to listen to. It’s like experiencing something on your taste buds for the first time, only with your ears.

Author: Fist
Review
Death Scream
27.09.2016

Ed Warby of Gorefest/Ayreon/Orphanage/Valkyrie fame is featured on Doomed’s 5th album, “Anna” concept album, guesting as he does on “The Frozen Wish”. As the closing track on “Anna”, “…Wish” features a nice blend of Sabbat/Trouble-like tuneful singing — as it is — juxtaposed, by lilting growling vocals and boldly adds a multiflous feather in the cap of a great album and crowns another rock-solid, crowning achievement for the ever-doomy Solitude Productions.

True to the usual intensity heard in German Heavy Metal from Thrash to Death, Netherlandic Doomed bring home the bacon with this starkly executed concept album monster, “Anna”. It is a Byzantine mosaic, and maneuvers it way through distorted labyrinthine passage to emerge as a heady sure-shot end-of-year top-ten-Metal-album winner. Yet be forewarned, as “Anna” is as dark as an apocalyptic ocean.

Now, a little background:

“Gorefest”‘s 1991 LP, “Mindloss”, was a hugely overlooked slab of Death (the band) worship. It was one of the best albums ever released in Death Metal history, in my humble opinion. I think it is incumbent on all fans of Doomed to go back and take another listen (or ten!) to it.

Get psyched.

Get Doomed.

Author: Rich Castle
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