Paganus - S/T

Paganus from Finland are another crushing doom on the Total Rust label who has released some killer albums this year including albums by Pyramido, Highgate and Mourning Dawn. Now add to Paganus to that list and you have one of the most impressive roster of bands going around. To describe Paganus a few words come to mind, sick, disturbing, vicious, extreme, crushing, frightening and just plain doom. The bands line up is drums (Tomi), bass (Teemu), vocal (Markus) and guitar (Manu), with an added hand (Mikko) contributing some extra noises. If you like your doom to be truely blackened and depressing then you might want to check this band out. The album is just 4 tracks, but lasting some 50 minutes in the style of Khanate, Burning Witch and Warhorse with some early Cathedral thrown in just to add to the total despair of the music. The band are total plodding down-tuned doom metal with sick gurgling vocals that at times are downright painful to listen to, it really makes you think that this guy is in serious pain when he sings. The album starts off with "Paganus" and at first the guitar sound is actually kind of clean but that soon gives way to the onslaught of sludge filled apocalyptic noise. Even though they play with your typical slow motion doom technique, there is a element of real tightness and feeling in the riffs. Some of it is almost bluesy in its approach but played with such conviction and thick tension, the vocals especially can only be described as larynx destroying. This vocal sound wont be for everyone but personally i find them just amazing, the effort put into his delivery is just fierce. This track is as bleak as it gets but they never sacrifice technique for heaviness, anyone can be heavy but this is real well crafted doom. "Skullsplitter" has more bloated riffs and a under-lying black metal feel to it but there is hints of drone-like ambiance a well which just makes the whole thing even darker. "Blood soaked boots" is the high point of the album for me with a sickening blood curdling vocals and a riffing style similar to "Cathedral’s Forest of Equilibrium" album. The track keeps this vibe up till the 8 minute mark when some ambient drone makes a appearance, darkening the mood even further. The arrangement is a little more sparse than the rest of the tracks on the album but it also seems to be the most easily listenable, its still very sick stuff though. The other track "Stab" offers more of the same, dishing out huge slabs of pure hatred. This is music for the depressed, suicidal or just plain insane but while the band indulge in mostly two chord dirges there is also sense of slow groove that not many bands in this genre have got. This is the best thing i have heard from "Total Rust Music", a monolithic testament to the depraved and drug induced extreme doom fan. Not a easy listen by any stretch of the imagination but one that had me hitting repeat many times. If you like your doom to be real heavy, black with a real evil edge then you will eat this one up. 9/10

www.myspace.com/paganusdoom