ALTAR OF OBLIVION — Sinews of Anguish (review)

ALTAR OF OBLIVION — Sinews of Anguish album cover Album · 2009 · Doom Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3/5 ·
UMUR
"Sinews of Anguish" (the full title is "Sinews of Anguish - Opus 1 in D-Minor") is the debut full-length studio album by Danish doom/heavy metal act Altar of Oblivion. The album was released through Shadow Kingdom Records in May 2009.

The music featured on the album is a combination of traditional doom metal and eighties influenced heavy metal (despite the sinister looking cover artwork, this has got nothing to do with doom/death, blackened doom metal or any other extreme form of doom). The two artists that predominantly come to mind are Black Sabbath and Candlemass. The latter not only because of how the instrumental part of the music sounds but also because of the semi-operatic vocal delivery by lead vocalist Mik Mentor. The album features a concept story, which is about a German Soldier and his struggles at the east front during World War II. The concept works well and enhances the already gloomy atmosphere of the album. "Sinews of Anguish" is an almost hour long album and the 8 tracks on the album are all pretty long (between 5 and 11 minutes long). There´s a nice development in most tracks though, and as a result my attention seldom wanders. In addtion to guitars, bass and drums there are also some atmosphere enhancing keyboards on the album, which is a great feature that provide the album with some variation. The vocals are pretty unique, which in my book is almost always a good thing, but in this particular case they are pretty surely an aquired taste. Personally I find them a bit too pompous.

The sound production is pretty raw and there´s a kind of professional demo quality to the sound. That description of the sound is probably a bit too harsh but there´s something about the sound that doesn´t qualify as being fully professional. Upon conclusion "Sinews of Anguish" is still a pretty good quality doom metal album with a rather unique sound due to the vocals. The music isn´t terribly original, but the musicianship is relatively strong, the songwriting is decent and the lyrical concept works well. A 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.
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