XANDER CAGE
Member
Since it's AOTY list-making season, I figure I'd plug an album I really enjoyed this year/explain my recent avatar change!
The Usher
Ghosts of a Dead Empire
Cosey Mo
Fat of the Ram
Affliction
No Safe Harbor
Subrosa is a doom/funeral doom/metal/whatever the hell metal posturing you want to apply to it band. They started off as more of a straight grunge/doom band similar to Jucifer, but over their last album and this year's More Constant than the Gods they've evolved into a more sweeping and dynamic sound with different movements within songs, a backup strings section, and powerful duets. Their songwriting sits somewhere between high fantasy and Americana, which gives it a pretty unique flavor - some occultish/fantasy topics are sung about with folksy colloquialism (the "I guess"s on Cosey Mo, etc) whereas other songs sound like 60s protest songs written by medieval bards (Fat of the Ram). The vocals are all very crisp and clear, too, which can be rare for this particular brand of metal.
All of the above songs are excellent, but if you're going in blind and are just curious, I'd recommend listening to Cosey Mo first and seeing if you like it. It's the most straightforward and consistently exciting song on the album.
So yeah, check it out (and check out their other excellent album No Help for the Mighty Ones or their more rock n' roll roots on Strega). I'm already a pretty big fan of doom metal, but I feel like there's enough going on with this album to generate some crossover interest. Now I just hope they'll go on a bigger tour with some of the buzz they're generating on end of year lists.
The Usher
Ghosts of a Dead Empire
Cosey Mo
Fat of the Ram
Affliction
No Safe Harbor
Subrosa is a doom/funeral doom/metal/whatever the hell metal posturing you want to apply to it band. They started off as more of a straight grunge/doom band similar to Jucifer, but over their last album and this year's More Constant than the Gods they've evolved into a more sweeping and dynamic sound with different movements within songs, a backup strings section, and powerful duets. Their songwriting sits somewhere between high fantasy and Americana, which gives it a pretty unique flavor - some occultish/fantasy topics are sung about with folksy colloquialism (the "I guess"s on Cosey Mo, etc) whereas other songs sound like 60s protest songs written by medieval bards (Fat of the Ram). The vocals are all very crisp and clear, too, which can be rare for this particular brand of metal.
All of the above songs are excellent, but if you're going in blind and are just curious, I'd recommend listening to Cosey Mo first and seeing if you like it. It's the most straightforward and consistently exciting song on the album.
So yeah, check it out (and check out their other excellent album No Help for the Mighty Ones or their more rock n' roll roots on Strega). I'm already a pretty big fan of doom metal, but I feel like there's enough going on with this album to generate some crossover interest. Now I just hope they'll go on a bigger tour with some of the buzz they're generating on end of year lists.
