Vouna is a funeral doom act from Olympia, Washington, consisting of lone member Yianna Bekris. Her labor of loneliness, this self-titled debut was created with the assistance of Wolves in the Throne Room’s Weaver brothers, being recorded at their studio, Owl Lodge, and the artwork created in collaboration with Nathan Weaver. Its premise lies in the perspective of “becoming the last person on earth” with influences in Finnish funeral doom, Greek folk music, and Eastern European black metal. All of which could easily go either way—tacky or intriguing.

I found it to be enjoyable. Reminds me a bit of Skumring, mixed with Agalloch. Not sure how I feel about the synths, but the vocals sound very good and I enjoy the dire guitar melodies.

New Esben and the Witch has just been released:

https://esbenandthewitch.bandcamp.com/album/nowhere

(Dolch) is definitely worth a mention. Blackened drone metal/post-punk/ethereal wave/shoegaze/whatever. Sounds like a mix of Urfaust and The Angelic Process with eerie clean female vocals.

Yeah Dolch is a good shoegazy Black-ish doom-ish project. The debut is much more interesting than the follow-up, imo.

Now, I noticed denovali released a new album by BLACKFILM, this great dark and heavy electro project. This one features a female voice that is not always leading the number, but, still, it's feamale-fronted, no question about this.



https://denovali.com/store/index.php?ma ... 05&cPath=1

This, as far as three tracks are a good indication of what the whole album will be about.
https://suldusk1.bandcamp.com/album/lunar-falls

A nice find, not so doomy and more electro than many in here, but still recommendable:

https://solveigmatthildur.bandcamp.com/releases

I agree, actually. Musically, there isn't anything significantly different about "Songs of Happiness... Words of Praise", but it just doesn't quite stick with me the same as I & II.

I've been listening to this Dutch band Gold for about six months now, and I really enjoy them. It features Thomas Sciarone from The Devil's Blood as one of the guitarists. Their first album was some pretty mediocre psychedelic rock, but they started on more of a post-punk/gothic rock/deathrock direction from their second album onward. This album, Why Aren't You Laughing? is their heaviest album yet, both in sound and mood. I'd actually say it's my favorite album of the year so far.



I can't remember is Esben and the Witch had been mentioned or not. They're another post-punky/gothic sounding band, though they have some post-rock/post-metal tendencies and get pretty heavy from time to time. I really enjoyed their album from last year, Nowhere. I think those of you who enjoy Sera Timms' projects (Black Math Horseman, Black Mare, Ides of Gemini) would probably like this.



Last but not least for now, Big|Brave have released a new song from their upcoming album. The video is a bit strange, but the music is quite tense. It may be a bit too minimalistic for some, but their song structures and execution tends to resemble that of drone metal quite a bit of the time. The vocals are placed in the very foreground, allowing the singer to guide the sparse instrumentation.

I mentioned Esben and The Witch just two posts above the one of mine you quote.

About Big/Brave, I feel this project can run out of steam pretty quickly if the they don't renew their songwriting based on the girl's very repetitive vocal modulations... That being said, no one sounds like it, but it's always the same.

New song by New Haunts. Really an excellent solo project:
https://newhaunts.bandcamp.com/track/escape

That's nice track, in the bleak disco chicks subcategory=)))

Frayle have released a new EP, a bit less stonerish and bouncy than the debut one, but not as much as I'd liked, still pretty nice:

I can't seem to find more of those organic doomy sounds, but in the electro vein, a new project pops up every month, like this one:

https://sidewalksandskeletons.bandcamp. ... hite-light

This EP is definitely a bit heavier than the first. Frayle make me think of a combination between the dissonant guitars of Triptykon, the post-metal/rock sounding vibes of Black Math Horseman, and the gentle vocals of Aleah Stanbridge from Trees of Eternity. Definitely an interesting project, it's like if an ethereal wave/dream pop duo from the 80's were to play doom metal.

Yet another one of those not-so-bleak-and-a-tad-too-danceable electro stuff:

Smoulder are fronted by a woman.
Sarah, is her name, I believe.

Very interesting Ep by Vaee Solis; the vocals are very sparce; the whole having little links with the debut full-length, which was demented as hell. This one is an experimental, meandering piece of music, more atmo, cinematic and slightly industrialized... It is definitely worth a listen.