"I sleep by your shadow, remembering your light In my heart, I'm with you every night" - Candlemass

Ever wondered who are those who write all the reviews on this page? Well prepare to be enlightened as here you can find out all about the people who think they are wise enough to write the doom-metal.com reviews! [ Chief Editor ] Name: Kostas Panagiotou Location: United Kingdom E-mail: NOSPAMPan@doom-metal.com Fav. Doom bands: Unholy, Esoteric, Skepticism, Morgion, Shape of despair "Born in Greece, the country of retsina, ouzo and ancient wisdom, I came in 1988 to Belgium, the country of good beer and excellent chocolate. Doom metal crossed my path when I was studying psychology at the University of Brussels and since then it became my favorite musical style. One of the  first metal albums I ever heard was actually 'Turn Loose the Swans' from My Dying Bride! But it wasn't until I heard Unholy s masterpiece 'Gracefallen' that I became a true doom freak. I'm making music myself and I have a dark music project called Pantheïst and play keyboards for the Belgian doom band Bellator. It's pretty safe to say I'm one of those people who could not survive without the healing powers of dark music." [ Current Reviewers ] Name: Heiko Isselée Location: Belgium E-mail: NOSPAMHeiko@doom-metal.com Fav doom bands: Skepticism, My Dying Bride, Anathema, Evoken, Morgion, Esoteric, While Heaven Wept, Pantheïst, Mourning Beloveth and Unholy "Having had a deep interest in classical music for the larger part of my youth, I started exploring more modern kinds of music at a relatively late age. I have always had a more profound interest in the music that explores the darker sides of life and connects to the darker sides of emotions. This being said, it is obvious that I would discover doom metal sooner or later. The genre caught my attention when I heard a My Dying Bride song on the radio. The same band would later on introduce me to a broader range of bands, and would be the cause of meeting people with similar tastes in music. From there on, I started searching crazily for more and more. Doomdeath and funeral doom were my first interests. When some people from the #doom-metal IRC channel started building this site, I was happy to join in as a reviewer. Through the site I discovered more and more bands and also got my introduction to the traditional doom style which I learnt to appreciate a lot later on. With the contacts that were made through site and forum, I also started developing an interest in promoting the live events in the doom genre. These days you can find me organizing gigs, helping out with bands on tour, up to organizing the doom mega-event Belgian Doom Night. All this, next to trying out new bands and albums and writing the occasional reviews." Name: Kevin Mchugh Location: USA E-mail: NOSPAMfatherdoom@doom-metal.com Fav doom bands: Spirit Caravan, Obsessed, St. Vitus, Goatsnake and Oversoul "I'm a great enthusiast for old-school doom and seventies-inspired metal.  My experience at SHOD 2 was a near-religious conversion to riffing doom, inspired by fantastic shows by Unorthodox, Spirit Caravan, Earthride, Internal Void, Pale Divine, and a host of others.  Now the only thing that will do is MORE AND MORE DOOM!!!  When taking time off from preaching the Word of Doom, I listen to alot of stoner rock, both new and old, some indie post-rock stuff, and even the occasional folk disc. I'm also a stereophile, and encourage anyone to write me if they have questions about equipment and the world of high-quality reproduced music. Oh yeah, and I like My Dying Bride's 'Turn Loose the Swans', too." Name: Oscar Strik Location: The Netherlands E-mail: NOSPAMqwallath@doom-metal.com Fav doom bands: Skepticism, Evoken, Worship, MDB, Officum Triste, UDOM, Morgion and Esoteric "I've been interested in metal since 1999, but the first real step towards my current musical interests was the purchase of My Dying Bride's 'The Light at the End of the World' in the almost-summer of the year 2000. Since then I've become a great MDB freak, and after that, a lover of anything doomy. Music has always been my favorite passtime, I think, and my music is almost the last thing I would give up. I simply can't do without feeling those waves hit my ears every day. As a side note, I also play drums for Pantheïst, the belgian funereal doom project of doom-metal.com's Kostas. A lot of thanks to all the people at doom-metal.com and all doom artists!" Name: Scott Wickens Location: Australia E-mail: NOSPAMapathy@doom-metal.com Fav doom bands: Skepticism, Fall Of The Grey Winged One, Khanate, Esoteric, Pelican and Funeral. "I first got a taste for doom-metal mid way through 2002, after seeing a reference to it somewhere on the net. It mentioned that My Dying Bride's 'Turn Loose The Swans', was the pinnacle of a genre that was described as painfully slow and depressing, so I went out of my way to listen to it, and haven't looked back. As I delved deeper into the genre I started leaning towards the more extreme forms of doom-metal, funeral doom and drone doom, which is pretty evident from my favourite bands. To me doom is the most untainted and pure form of music, it is painfully bleak and stark yet simultaneously beautifully expressive, conveying emotion in music like nothing else I have ever encountered nor am likely to encounter, and has saved my life on more than one occassion." Name: Chaim Drishner Location: Isreal E-mail: NOSPAMChaim@doom-metal.com Fav doom bands: Skepticism, Unholy, Dolorian, Hierophant and Shape Of Despair. "As it is with doom metal, the velocity factor works also within one's consciousness, even without knowing, the doom factor that is, it works its way slowly, aimfully, only to sieze one's soul some years after it has been unleashed. Some thirteen years ago I had encountered Winter, Sorrow and Cathedral. The bleak mournfull sounds, the sluggish pace of the crushing, uncomprehended sounds, hit me and apparently never ricocheted back but rather infiltrated deep inside. Three years ago I had stumbled upon a copy of Winter's 'Into darkness' and old feelings of past sprang into being, half-expressed feelings and soundscapes I never have gotten to fully dwell in many years before, when I heard those sounds for the first time. And indeed in my youth I only 'heard', I never listened, never experienced, thus never became spellbound by the humane/inhuman tones, colors and atmospheres. Now I do, oh, what sights and sounds and emotions are in store, just a push of a play button away - and to think I hesitated." Note: remove the "NOSPAM" section in adresses.