Reviews for July 16th, 2012

Eye of Solitude – Sui Caedere

Eye of Solitude is a London-based doom/death band and “Sui Caedere” is their second album. This album plays right to my current infatuation with funeral and death/doom metal bands, so I am happy to say that I like this album a lot. With the exception of the latest Ahab album, I do not hear a lot of music in this style where the production is really good and clear. Given the style this is not always a big deal, but it is nice to hear a good production, and “Sui Caedere” is better than most.

The music varies from slow to slightly above mid-tempo (faster than the glacial speeds of funeral doom) and is both bone-crushingly heavy and heart-wrenchingly melodic. The vocals are harsh and very deep sounding. They often have that gravely cement-mixer quality that drives me crazy with brutal death metal bands. This guy, however, enunciates a little better and the fact that the vocals are seated well in the mix turns this vocal style into a positive rather than a negative. The vocals combined with the music make for one really heavy album.

I realize this is probably not for everyone, but for me personally, I am really digging on this album. Check out the track “The Haunting.”

Moonloop – Deeply from the Earth

Moonloop is a progressive death metal band from Barcelona, Spain and “Deeply from the Earth” is their second album. They have been compared to both Opeth and Gojira, and while I can understand how those comparisons get made, I would never mistake Moonloop for either band.

The first thing I notice here is that the production sounds very nice. The music is very clean sounding, which is a nice because there is a lot of good riffing to be had here. The vocals are harsh and somewhat deep. They contrast nicely with the music thanks to the tight, crisp production. Once in awhile the vocals come off a little raw and do not quite mix as well with the slick sounding music, but most of the time it sounds perfect. Another nice contrast is the occasional inclusion of clean vocals.

Score another win for today; I really like “Deeply from the Earth.” The musical talent is obviously there, and combined with such solid production I am helpless before the melodies of Moonloop. Don’t believe me? Check out the epic 11 minute album closer, “Atlantis Rising.”

Oniromantic – The White Disease

Well, what do you know; we have a trifecta of cool albums today. Rounding out this hat-trick is Italian gothic metal band Oniromantic and their first album, “The White Disease.” Has anyone ever done a documentary on all the good metal bands coming out of Italy? I would like to see such a documentary because there is a seemingly never-ending flow of quality metal coming from that direction. Sam Dunn needs to get on this, pronto.

Oniromantic play a mix of traditional and gothic metal which I find hard to compare to other artists. In this sense they have their own sound, which is always a good thing. The closest I can come is the breathy vocal style used in the verses is vaguely reminiscent of Tiamat’s gothic phase. Other than this pretty weak comparison they really just do their own thing. And their thing is good.

My only minor complaint is that sometimes, particularly in opening track “Saturn Hellucination”, the vocals are not quite high enough in the mix and they get lost in the music. Due to the vocal style the words are easily overpowered by the music. This is not a problem in a lot of the songs, but maybe bumping the vocals up a notch might help them stand out a little more.

Other than that little thing, I love this album. I feel like we could really hear bigger and better things from this band in the future. I will be waiting. In the meantime, here is the track “High Resolution God.”