Doomentor Second Ceremony Review

Doomentor

The Second Ceremony 7” EP

Iron Bonehead

Release July 24^th 2015

 The trio, Doomentor, slip us two songs via Iron Bonehead. Over twelve minutes of raw doom metal bless this vinyl. The crew cultivates a mysterious aura in reputation and sound, wearing cloaks on their first LP or not at all here. As if emitted from a cursed castle during Walpurgisnacht, an organ opens up with a haunting tune. The one minute-plus intro dives into “Maligne”. “Maligne” has a swinging, thrashy feel.  The production is extremely raw, appreciating a lo-fi aesthetic.  The music is fast, galloping, riff-loving metal. “Nocturniae Monumentalis” is side B with nearly eight minutes of slower but menacing metal.

They describe themselves as “black occult imperial doom metal hell”. That could sum it up. They list influence like Trouble and Manilla Road. Certainly, those bands are applicable for a foundation. But, this music is much darker and infuses nuances of thrash and speed metal into the mix. There are elements deriving from Venom, Hellhammer, and Motorhead. This is stripped down doom. The vocals are low growls and sneers. And they should be. I don’t want this sung. Even a Wino approach would detract from the sinister punch Doomentor packs.

This is a great seven inch. The songwriting and execution is bad ass. I do wish for a higher quality of production. I get the sound they are going for, but the low end needs more of a punch. And while the cymbals are up in the mix, lower toms should be more present. I don’t need clean by any means. But doom should have big thick fuzzy bass, in my opinion. Their self titled embraced a thicker feel while maintaining the savagery and raw grit. I still recommend it.

https://doomentor.bandcamp.com/