UNEARTHED ELF - Into The Catacomb Abyss
October 25, 2016, 7 years ago
(Independent)
What the hell? Going into this with that (absurd) name, title, and cover art I was expecting black, but the promo materials accompanying it warned me of “epic fantasy power doom metal” (also warned me of “solo project”). Then I saw this is a 53-minute debut album, and the red flags almost crushed me with their weight. But, I gotta say, putting all that aside and listening to a song like “Never See The Sun Again,” I'm impressed with this elf... I mean, dude's ability to lay down melancholic, prime-era-Sentenced-loving death-rock. Indeed, there's also doom all over the place here (and we're talking trad doom like Candlemass): “Eternal Night” follows up that cool tune with a melodramatic but effective doom ballad of sorts; three songs in and it's clear this project is way, way, way better than its ridiculous name is going to have anyone on the face of the planet believe.
“Candles In The Crypt” is a cool doom instrumental, and “Ossified Remains” is heavy-as-rocks doom-cum-black. The album is 15 to 20 minutes longer than it should be, some of the vocals are a bit painful (see the opening of “Lighting The Mummy On Fire,” for example), and that band name has gotta go before it's too late, but, otherwise, there's some solid melancholic death-doom-rock at hand here, like Sentenced at their most Black Album-ish without the Black Album-isms and with more doom influence, which ain't a bad equation at all. “A Forest Of Gravestones” closes the album by sounding like a song that should close an album, which isn't always easy. Not bad at all, Unearthed Elf. Ugh, the name!