Band:	Anguish
Album:	Mountain
Style:	Doom metal
Release date:	November 12, 2014
A review by:	R'Vannith

01. Intro
02. Makarian Furnace
03. Stir Up The Demon
04. Master Of Peak's Fall
05. Decomposer Of Planets
06. The Woven Shield
07. Void
08. Snowhammer

Further brandishing of the severed fox head signals two things for traditionally epic doom: more Anguish and fewer afforded comforts. Between you and the end is a Mountain of unembellished metal as bitter and unrelenting as the winter wind. Archaic style is delivered here without penitence.

In a matter of two years since their debut, and a split with Below in between, these Swedes have made little headway in distancing themselves from a stylistic fettering in clear Candlemass worship. Yet, to describe them as classically doom devout is only half the picture; while they do revel in tradition to the point of clear derivation, the band manages to source the well worn sound and offer individual style with distinctively brazen vigour, most obvious in the grit of the vocals.

This second effort is less driven by the desire to assimilate sound to name, as was the case with their debut which slowly pursued the course which led them to the very depths of doom's destitution. Rarely could and would one thrive on the oppressive song writing therein, simply because one was not entitled to. It was designed purely to drag your decrepit existence through long hauls of some of the most effectively austere and pure blooded doom metal to be envisioned in recent times, which counter-intuitively coaxes you with sheer personality across languid tracks that are entirely barren of fancy modern effects and instigate a sequence of pure and rather plain old doom. There's no need, requirement nor acceptance for the newfangled at Mountain's peak.

Anguish's demeanour is presented in a sound remorselessly stripped down to the bone, with an uncompromisingly bleak approach to song writing here that further appropriates lyrics as a means of passage over the ragged crawl of Mountain. Vocally, the delivery no longer focuses on providing a namesake, as such, and engages the listener in an effort to place significance on the lyrics and strengthen the "epic" aspect of their doom metal inspirations. "The Woven Shield" does more than suggest this in name, as the slow and guarded riffs are relinquished with peaks of atmospheric organ and chilling air.

The tracks are built so as to scale and reach toward culminating pinnacles, which offer satiating glimpses of heightened engagement in effective bursts of increased tempo and the quicker pound of rhythm, such as that which comes to fill the torment of "Void". "Decomposer Of Planets" presents a more concise doom ditty, with most tracks reaching past the seven minute mark. Some of the most rewarding doom is that which challenges, this record being exemplary in such a purpose as it certainly isn't the most accessible of sounds. It requires diligence and perseverance to overcome Mountain, and it's an effort which benefits the listener in the long run, with a sound which delivers best when taken in its entirety.

To bear Anguish is to bear doom. It's as simple as that, as Mountain endures.