What’s up? It’s your old boy Waldo here, to inform you about some new and upcoming releases, good, bad, or otherwise. Remember, I’m not an elitist, you just have terrible taste.
Sweet merciful crap, funeral doomsters Candlemass are back with Sweet Evil Sun. First to note, this sounds pretty good. The one problem I have, and this is a small gripe, is there are a couple of “rockin’’ tunes which end up making these guys sound a lot older than they are. Also present is the sound the band is known for, dirgeful funeral style doom. Singer Johan Langquist’s ever present voice is here, loud, like WAY too much up in the mix. The band sounds pretty killer, but this new mix takes something away from the overall sound. Catchy choruses, and ripping solos are rife on this record, which is not too far from their roots. This birdbrain prefers the murkiness of the older material, as it seems a little more genuine. All in all, this is a pretty solid effort, but for my money, go check out their older, more classic records—you won’t be disappointed. 6 Fucking Pecks.
Sweet merciful crap, what is this garbage? In The Woods… Diversum sounds like it belongs more in Hot Topic (yes, that is one of my nastiest insults) than it does, well anywhere else. Honestly, the music isn’t that bad, standard doomy type stuff with clean picked intros and mostly clean singing. Speaking of the singer, he does growl some, and I can assure you that this would be a much better record if he did so. Vocals sound mostly like some baritone trying to be a vampire, then hitting some high notes here and there. Musically, while not bad, it’s pretty standard. Hell, this even seems like it was mixed for mainstream consumption, definitely not for the underground. If you’re a fan, I guess you know what I mean, and you’ll like this, but if you are “extremely extreme.” Pass. 2 Fucking Pecks.
Waldo out!
