New ABBATH! I like that S/T album!

Nice.

New Vengnome too!

Will be interesting.

Looking forward to that: Gateway... is one if my favourite DM albums.

I'm interested to see if there's a larger, more complete version of that cover, as there has been with the last few.

This is a nice surprise:





^^Sounds very promising!

I've had review copies of the new Within Temptation and Sulphur Aeon.
WT is standard stuff really. Very good, but pretty much the same as the last album minus Xzibit.

Sulphur Aeon is sexy as all fuck.

Excellent news. The best DM band around IMO.

The manifestation of pure doom metal!
CANDLEMASS have come full circle: their first singer Johan Langquist (who left the band after singing on the legendary 1986 debut Epicus Doomicus Metallicus) has returned! Now, the epic doom metal veterans announce their 12th full length album The Door to Doom! The album will be released February 22nd via Napalm Records.

The Door To Doom unsurprisingly follows the plotline mastermind, songwriter and bass player Leif Edling established in the past years: epic world class doom metal that relies on slow mammoth riffing. With Johan Langquist`s highly dramatic vocal style and the love for details, the band made this album to the next “Epicus”. This masterpiece is rounded off by a beautiful guest appearance by none other than Black Sabbath`s Tony Iommi on ‘Astorolus – The Great Octopus.’

Tony Iommi on his appearance:
“Candlemass are a major force in Scandinavian heavy rock and have always acknowledged the influence we had on their music. They asked if I’d contribute to a track which sounded pretty good so I thought ‘why not’ “.

Leif Edling states:
“We feel very honoured that Tony Iommi said yes to play the solo on ASTOROLUS. The song was sent to the management and amazingly enough, the master agreed to let his mighty SG sing on the track! For me personally this is a dream come true. Tony Iommi has always been my hero and guiding light when it comes to heavy music, so to hear that he likes the song and also would like to play on it, gave me chills down the spine! I’m still in shock! But kudos to him to be so cool to even listen to it. Hats off! Tony Iommi is and will always be God!”

The Door to Doom Tracklisting:
1. Splendor Demon Majesty
2. Under The Ocean
3. Astorolus – the Great Octopus
4. Bridge Of The Blind
5. Death´s Wheel
6. Black Trinity
7. House Of Doom
8. The Omega Circle

At The Gates - "With the Pantheons Blind" E.P. (Release date: 18th January 2019)

^ Just like their latest album the cover artwork looks really promising. The music will probably suck again though.

Yeah I'm right with ya there. The reformation albums have both been disappointing.

They aren't terrible by any stretch though, just rather ordinary, run of the mill. Too cleanly produced and they don't sound as ferocious as old ATG.

Most of the vet Swedish metal bands from the 90's and early 00's sound pretty tired nowadays though. I thought The Haunted were on the up again with Exit Wounds, but their last album was an assembly line job.

I’m glad to see Týr are still out-and-about, it’s been a long time between drinks for them. They’ve always been good, fun melodic metal, without too much cheese. Hoping that they’ll spread out a bit more towards their older material and expand on arrangements, something I found their last few albums to be lacking in despite solid riffs and melodies.

I think the last Tyr album I liked was Eric The Red. I didn't like how they slowly moved away from the folkier/Viking sound to a more straight up power metal sound.

The track you posted is fine, but no better than a Blind Guardian b-side. It just lacks some of the character of their earlier material for me.

Anni, I wouldn’t totally disagree with that sentiment, Eric The Red was my first Tyr album and remains my favourite release of their’s (due to the atmosphere it creates, and how tight the arrangements are despite aiming at being “EPIC!” - there just isn’t a wasted minute). Ragnarok has a lot of that as well, just not as succinct, and the interludes are not entirely necessary, but it still offers as much as it’s predecessor for mine.

Land is the last release that they really went full at their folk roots, but they tend to overextend the songs there. I think because of this is why they tightened up their songwriting and downplayed their prog tendencies, and moved towards the more “power metal”/power-prog sound of their last three albums. I still really enjoy them though, but unfortunately they do tend to blur together (apart from some moments on Valkyra - comedic beastiality, and female vocals, I’m looking at you). They are just an old friend at this point for me. (And maybe they’ve just run out of Faroese songs to sing?)

Is the Viking folk metal style still popular?