Band:	Anguish
Album:	Through The Archdemon's Head
Style:	Doom metal
Release date:	February 14, 2012
A review by:	Doc G.

01. (Intro) Through The Archdemons Head
02. Book Of Fox
03. When The Ancients Dare To Walk
04. Dawn Of Doom
05. Lair Of The Gods
06. Illusive Damnation
07. The Veil
08. Morbid Castle

Yes. Totally awesome. Old school traditional doom metal with a personality of its own? Hell yes. Despite being somewhat derivative, Anguish managed to have found themselves an incredibly distinct sound.

Everything on Through The Archdemons Head is good and raw, in a campy, old-school sort of way. Take riffs similar to that of Candlemass, then combine them with vocals similar to some first wave black metal type vocals. Sort of a Cronos/Quorthon type thing going on on the vocal front I guess you could say. The end result? It's fucking evil sounding of course, and that's how Anguish really shine through with their own flavour. This a great example of the whole picture being better than the individual parts; if I had heard an instrumental version of this album, and had to match the riffs with the best fitting vocals, I don't think I could have made a better choice than these folks did. The whole picture is dark and menacing, despite each of the individual pieces being somewhat unoriginal and unremarkable standing on their own.

...And here's where it gets conflicting. Yes, it is noticeably derivative, but on the other hand it is recognizable. In other words, when this pops on your Ipod on shuffle mix tape, you're not going to have to take a double-check to see who it is you're listening to. When considering the battle this album goes through with "I've heard this all before" vs "these guys are pretty distinct", Anguish luckily have the chops to come out on the positive side.