Doomshine – The Piper at the Gates of Doom (2010)

Epic Doom Metal is a genre that has been getting little to no attention in the last few years. With only sparse releases by While Heaven Wept, Candlemass, and others, we can count with two hands the albums that have been released in the last 2 years. Doomshine hailing from Sweden adds their contribution to the mix with a crushing release names “The Piper at the Gates of Doom”.

As you can expect from any Epic Doom Metal release, chugging down-tempo riffing, epic singing and tight drumming is exactly what the doctor ordered. Doomshine pretty much excels in every single department and created 73 minutes of crushing music that will please even the pickiest fans of Candlemass and similar bands.

Starting off with the riffing, Doomshine creates epic riffs that carry songs from start till end. But don’t imagine this is boring, it’s all the opposite since Doomshine actually provides enough variety within the songs to not induce a boredom coma to the listener (unlike many bands of the same genre). There are plenty of powefuly and ‘faster’ paced sections in this release to keep things fresh and interesting for the whopping 73 minutes that this release lasts.

On the vocal department we have some a pretty solid performance from Tim Holtz, and we particularly enjoyed it since they aren’t as whinny as the ones from While Heaven Wept and even Candlemass. There are some sections that the music ventures into a more traditional Doom Metal territory and the vocals still keep the same quality.

The overall feeling of “The Piper at the Gates of Doom” is a very diverse one, while we have prevalent ‘doomy’ elements, there are also some Heavy/Power Metal influences that keep things moving in a faster pace and provide a nice shift in the flow of this album. Don’t get us wrong, we love our Doom Metal slow and crushing, but we still enjoy enough variety in the music that allows a band to be more versatile.

With the next While Heaven Wept and Candlemass albums far in the distant future, we think that Doomshine is a good enough band to keep our Epic Doom Metal cravings in check for a while. If you like Doom Metal, you will love “The Piper at the Gates of Doom”, so check it out.

Release: July 2nd, 2010

Country: Sweden