Yes, although you can't say the lyrics are brilliant, at least I appreciate the social topics that sound all honestly personal. Of course, there's that Jesus name thrown around on every occasion that pulls me off a bit, but well, at least you're spared the usual Satan bullshit.

New Crust. Its really good. But £20 inc postage to the UK for a 26 minute CD is expensive. I must be crazy.

So I checked around 60% of your Epic Doom recommondations.

Here my preliminary ranking:
1. Count Raven - I love it!
2. Solitude Aeternus - very good, drums sound a little to eighties to me
3. All Soul's Day - yes, yes, yes!!!
4. Forsaken - I need another loop
5. Altar of Oblivion - production is a bit dull

Next on my checklist is Great Coven & The Temple.

Count Raven should be more acclaimed.

No best way to begin the new year than by discovering the best this style has to offer, good for you!

Declare me a lunatic but after a few loops of Solitude Aeternus' The Darkest Hour it starts reminding me more and more of Alice In Chains somehow.....? Confusing....

Condenados, traditional doom from Chile.

I was listening to Elephant, the sole release of a band called Indecadence the other day, you can download it from this site:
http://www.indecadence.com/
It's what could be described as Dark Metal with heavy electro overtones. And mind you, I like this mix very much!

Would you know any other project of the same ilk? It's doomy, melancholic, with the punchy occasional death-ish blasts, brutal growls, choppy riffs, but above all those crisp electro melodies that make the whole very fresh.

I can hear that in their music sometimes, as well. It's fine with me though because I love Alice In Chains and I love Solitude Aeturnus.

Hey Ryan, nice to see you here... any new music from you in the pipeline if I may ask?

I heard an interesting new band the other day. They play epic/trad doom metal but they use the Boss HM-2 Distortion pedal on their guitars (same pedal used by bands like Entombed). It's very good and very heavy. Unfortunately, they have a silly name: DWOOM.

I recommend checking them out:

Thanks for asking!

I am recording the follow-up album to Funeral Rites for the Living. I've been very busy with it and I am very happy with the results thus far. I lost my way with the project for awhile and started recording some more trad-doom type stuff. I made a whole album's worth and threw it away. Then I stopped playing for a long time.

Recently, the passion and excitement returned and I've been recording a lot. Crushing funeral doom metal type stuff but with more experimentation, obviously. :-)

I hope to have it ready by the spring, then I'll need to find a label.

I honestly had forgotten about DOOM-METAL.COM until a friend reminded me. Now, I have it set as my homepage. You'll likely be seeing more of me.

Thanks for the update! We look forward to the new album... sounds exciting!

good new your coming back to life, Ryan; As one of your 5 fans, I rejoice at it!

Dwoom has been praised quite a lot in these pages, it's definitely the stand-out act in the trad doom sphere of last year, I agree.

Haha! The fans are few and far between. I did sell a pair of my old shoes to a "fan" online one time. They said they collected shoes from the singers in bands they liked. I thought it was very bizarre but I couldn't say "no" to $200.

When you make music for your own enjoyment, it's a plus when others like it, as well.

Thank you. :-)

I picture the guy having a hard sniff to the shoes while listening to your music, nice way to deepen the experience.

Haha!

So, I could use some recommendations to listen to. I feel out of the loop. What were your favorite doom releases of the past year? What were most unique? Which were heaviest?

You know The Nihilistc Front? I think they're putting out releases for quite some time now. Not that new, but worth a listen.
https://thenihilisticfront.bandcamp.com/
Same with Drug Honkey, they've been around for years, but their latest album puts me in awe:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DP4KPxTtfa4

another rec, something reaaly heavy would be Owlcrusher, not unique by any stretch, but it's super effective: http://owlcrusher.bandcamp.com/

As far as "real" music is concerned, something that you could more easilly tagged as classic Death doom, there're two bands I give all my support to: Norilsk and Suffer Yourself, my advice would be to skipped both bands' debuts and go right to their sophomore albums, which, in both case, are really more accomplished.

For me the most lasting impression have been left by the latest albums of Zaraza, Ggu:ll, Zatokrev, Hyponic, Wastes and Fuoco Fatuo

From this very first sample off the next album by P.H.O.B.O.S., this could be something to recommend too!
https://transcendingobscurity.bandcamp. ... doom-metal

(I second WASTES btw as the most challenging album produced these last years)