Altar Of Oblivion - Grand Gesture Of Defiance

Brooding over the latest Ep of the Danish doom bringers, ‘’Salvation’’, I never actually saw this, an album coming. Me and Altar Of Oblivion don’t really go back long, but I was quite well acquainted with their Ep which was out earlier this year, and as I was entirely pleased by the results, I rushed to obtain their latest material. I was baffled when I saw the lengthy bulk of thirty four minutes four minutes filled with completely fresh material, proving that the band is much more productive than they seem. Personal emotions aside, Altar Of Oblivion present a true magnum opus with ‘’Grand Gesture Of Defiance’’.  While the album doesn’t deviate even marginally from its predecessor, it culminates the band’s soulful, mournful aura of epic doom metal, and delivers it in a nearly flawless manner, not exceedingly sophisticated but not entirely dull or repetitive either.

Although there are many doom masters who inflict hefty exercises of crushing ponds and stomps upon the listener in a melancholic edge, there aren’t quite many bands which excel at the same extent as Altar Of Oblivion. ‘’Grand Gesture Of Defiance’’ is definitely a mournful monolith of epic pulchritude, and the majority of the record does indeed flow in a ponderous way (although still very fluent whilst doing so), but part of the melancholy comes from the subtle passages that adorn and augment its epic touch, and never is it drudgy or drowning. Lots of people compare Altar Of Oblivion to King Diamond, which is a very relevant comparison in any way. The band espouses such a melodious embellishment and disperses it throughout the album, and a heavy/doom sound is also more considerable compared to the dry doom metal tag, as the band channels into swifter, catchy excursions more often than many doom metal obelisks, leaving a sweet, forlorn and almost lamenting traditional heavy metal taste in your mouth.

Eventually, the sombre attitude of the album pervades, and another surprising aspect leaves it mark. Despite being relatively more intricate in compositions and structure than most traditional heavy metal bands, Altar Of Oblivion’s music is memorable, and you’ll find yourself murmuring the melody driven chorus more often than you’d think. The guitar tone was a disappointment at first, I must admit. While expected something just as bulky and rich as the tone on the ‘’Salvation’’ Ep, I got something that’s only half as muscular, or dense, and although the guitar flickers with lower notes just as often as it foes with higher, shriller notes, certain moments where the only thing that ruled the music was a groovy beat and choppy chug felt empty. I eventually got used to it, though, but I still think Altar Of Oblivion could have done better in the tone department, especially when it came to releasing some tasty chops.

All in all, though, ‘’Grand Gesture Of Defiance’’ proves to be a marginally better performance the fantastic Ep released before it. A beautiful churning of soulful vocals, culminating choruses and memorable patters linked together soothingly is what it is. The Danish will probably expose their poignant climax, but even they can’t reach higher heights, this stands as a beautiful monolith of sombre and epic doom metal – one that’s a guaranteed win for fans of traditional heavy, doom, and all sorts of epic metal for that matter. It’s rather a grand gesture of megalithic beauty, really, but it could also be defiant, we can never know. 

Highlights:

Where Darkness Is Light

Sentenced In Absentia

The Graveyard Of Broken Dreams

Rating: 88,5%

Altar Of Oblivion - Salvation

Doom metal is not something I often encounter, but when there's some good doom around, you can bet I'll be up for chunks of it. The last doom record that I found absolutely pummeling and earth shaking was Anguish's ''Through The Archdemon's Head'', a tantalizing brutalizer of a stomping monolith of an album, and it was dark, intense, intricate and massive, bestirred masterfully, and although these Danish doomers make their doom quite hefty and powerful, it still tends to differ with the huge traditional heavy metal influence lingering about. I'm mentioning Anguish because I found them incredibly effective but these two releases aren't necessarily parallel to each other. Anguish is dark and cryptic while Altar is much more epic and melancholic for that sense, and Altar manages to perfect the ponderous chugs while keeping the speed at a moving mid paced level, but Anguish inserts tons of cuts into their music, sounding sludgy rather than moving.

With five songs (in which one of them is a two minute somber interlude) ranging at thirty minutes, the ''Salvation'' Ep is more of an album than an Ep. I suppose they didn't bother searching for a more original album cover though I'm quite content with the huge cross amid the dark grey sky, seething bitter despair and sorrow as it stands there. As stated, Altar Of Oblivion explores the epic portion of doom metal, roots deeply  planted in the heart of the likes of Candlemass, Saint Vitus, etc. I just loved the combination of traditional heavy metal and epic doom metal, but I'm bot certain if it was the boxy, oppressing production quality that rendered the music so gravitating, or Altar's stellar execution, but either way, I can't seem to find anything in this to scoff at as subdued, mournful doom metal has always been something that I adored. Like most bands to enhance their music with that whole ''epic'' touch, the atmosphere becomes boundlessly cloudy and epic during the chorus sections, adorned with sparse and rich melodies coming from under. ''Salvation'' also has a crucial implement to support the music; a thick guitar tone much like the production quality, only even more crushing.

The great thing is, the moods and tempos are linked together so there's no sudden change of speed like other  [metal genre]-doom hybrids. This allows the album to move cautiously and sequentially, and the pace of the music is always kept low, channeling between mid paced chugs or completely drowning doom metal riffs. Well, at least for the majority songs. The title track gets a little bit more spunk at the back and keeps things fresher and faster than before even though it's still bound to the classic formula of the Ep with iron shackes and chains. The main idea here is obvious; Altar Of Oblivion implant tons of traditional heavy metal aesthetics into their enjoyable brand of epic doom metal, and while at basis their music is simply crafted and plainly garnished, it shows that both punishing crushers and melodies of sorrowful pulchritude can coexist at the same time. This doom, is true beauty and true traditional doom, a hefty slab of epic metal you won't forget so easily. It's impact is still palpable on me.

Highlights:
The Believers In The Mist
The Narrow Gates Of Emptiness


Rating: 86,5%

Follow the doom n' gloom masters from Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Altar-of-Oblivion/139296410507