Anhedonist - Netherwards

I don't think that I am the only one who have been craving for some newer doom/death releases with an old school sound to them for quite some time now. Personally, the last offerings in this particular vein were probably Ophis and to some extent also Hooded Menace with their albums released back in 2010. But finally, Anhedonist appears out of nowhere it seemed and has managed to put an end to that drought for me with their debut.

The album instantly engulfed me with its dense and crushing sound, never letting go of its sinister yet alluring grip. It is doom/death with no bullsh*t whatsoever and I really appreciate that both the doom and the death side of things get presented properly so to speak. Another thing that I like about Netherwards is that, while the album has got a very straight-forward approach, it still contains a few details that makes it stand out somewhat. Examples of this is parts of the guitar play as well as a few depressive black metal-esque sections.

Netherwards was like a breath of foul fresh air to me and is one of those albums that only get better and better the more you listen to it so I see it as very likely that it will climb higher on my top list over time.

Great album. I can never get enough death/doom, so I'm glad I got a chance to listen to this.

Solid stuff.

I felt like this album was all build-up, the atmosphere is dense and choking and I kept waiting for some sort of climax, but sadly never got one. It's not a bad album by any means though, I just found it slightly too repetitious and long to suit my tastes.

Noooooooooooooooooooooo, why did they have to break up? D: