Warthur
"Catacombs" is, when you think about it, a pretty apt name for Xathagorra Mlandroth's one-man doom metal project, since the production style of this one really does give the impression that this music is rising up from the shadows of a dark, damp cave (in a good way, not in a botched production sort of way). The production work on this release is pretty impressive, but it doesn't quite hide the shortcomings of the songwriting. Yes, admittedly this is doom metal in a funeral doom sort of vein, which consequently does involve more than a bit of gloomy repetition, but there's a knack to making repetition seem hypnotic and evocative rather than dull and, well, repetitive, and that knack unfortunately tends to elude Catacombs here.
