Continuing their relation with the well-respected Swedish label I Hate Records, Finnish outfit FALL OF THE IDOLS has put out one hell of a record: sludgy, heavy and melodic, up to a certain point. This one, their third release with the aforementioned label, sounds more mature than their previous album "The Seance". I think they have developed as a band, diving deep into the nuances of the genre. And that has helped them achieve their own identity and sound. Specially since the line between boring and interesting Doom Metal is so thin. I have been a fan of this style since my first contact with the good old versions of PARADISE LOST, THE GATHERING, ANATHEMA (curiously, all of these bands shifted their sound later), UNHOLY, MY DYING BRIDE and so on. And FALL OF THE IDOLS evoke these bands, not cloning their sound, but in its unique way. Maybe, you will also hear some CATHEDRAL, DOWN and KYUSS influences as I did. All blended together in 6 songs, clocking an impressive 55 minutes. In my humble opinion, the only song that didn’t hooked me up was ‘Descant Deific Psalms’, since it becomes a little repetitive and the pace becomes a hard audio task to bear. But the other 5 songs are brilliant, full of depressive vocal lines, harsh screams of anguish and violent mood swings that enhance the cold atmosphere. The production itself is raw and dirty, with a heavy mix and an overall dense guitar / bass tone. Every instrument pounds its way through the whole record and the vocals shift from raspy to clear to almost schizophrenic. You will even be surprised by a couple fast tempo (whatever ‘fast’ means in Doom Metal) sections just to keep things moving on. It seems a bunch of Finnish bands have been re-discovering the "breathe of fresh air" that Doom Metal offers to the Metal listener, in a scene full of overproduced brutal Death Metal, raw Thrash Metal and ultra lo-fi krieg Black Metal. Anyway, this is a great album. 100% recommended. More band info at: www.facebook.com/pages/fall-of-the-idols/108014039280383, or you can contact the label (which has a great catalogue of bands BTW) here: www.ihate.se