Review: Doomraiser – Erasing the Remembrance
Doomraiser – Erasing the Remembrance (2009) [Bloodrock] // Grade: B
I can’t speak for any music scene outside of Brooklyn, but looking back on the late 80s to mid 90s but Metal being outweighed by Grunge/Aternative as the music of choice for disenfranchised youths lead to some interesting results when it came to local bands. The majority kids aged 13-21 (myself included) were forming bands that were clearly influenced by not only Metal they grew up but the enthusiasm at the current changing of the guard. The end result in low totem poll clubs was a slew of bands who spouted re-shuffled Sabbath riffs while being fronted by local (take your pick) Layne Staley, Billy Corgan ot Kurt Cobain. Not surprisingly, the most talented musicians would eventually be part of some of Brooklyn’s more recognizable Metalcore bands (My personal faves would eventually become part of Candiria). It is however surprising that at some point in the development stages none really broke from that adolescent Pangea and cultivate the sound more into the Melvins or Kyuss’ vein.
What the hell does this have to do with Doomraiser? Well, Italy’s Doomraiser is an excellently executed throwback to the best of those bands were they to have taken just a step a little deeper into that Stoner direction (instead of Metalcore). The music is very traditional Sabbath inspired Doom Metal while the vocals are sung straight up like River Runs Red era Life of Agony. I’d be lying if I said that Erasing the Remembrance didn’t pull fondly at my hearts nostalgic strings of hanging out clubs, friends rehearsal spaces and swapping third generation demo tapes… and while I can’t count on those same feelings flooding back to anyone who grew up outside of Brooklyn, it does stand to reason that this in no way was an isolated local sound… but an unavoidable stepping stone in the DNA of local music scenes of the time.
Thankfully though for Erasing the Remembrance’s sake though, that were ALL of that be completely lost on you Doomraiser still manages to lay down an incredibly solid debut for those whose Stoner tastes lay a little wider than just the latest repackaging of Sleep’s Holy Mountain. I do however wish the album wasn’t quite as muddled in the lo-fi production as it is. While it on one hand it does happily hearken back to the sound of old 90s Demos it also make it a bit difficult to get through the album in one sitting since most songs range between 8-15 minutes are trudging through with little sonic variation.
I think any current day Stoner fan, who grew up in a local music scene like the one i described above would not only get a kick out of this album, but some genuine enjoyment of what perhaps could have been.
