Never Cross the Dead

There is something that sets doom metal apart from the rest of the pack, something that goes well beyond the generally slower tempos and simplicity. It could be best summed up as the fear and anticipation of an impending event, as opposed to the event itself, being stretched out like a blanket upon the ears and seeming to go on without end. While its earliest expressions were generally confined to feelings of hopelessness with a purely real world sense or a semi-real one while under the influence of mind-altering substances, death/doom is a bit less shy about the otherworldly side of fatalism, playing off an even darker imagery that calls for a more exaggerated experience. Given that death metal is generally known to contrast with doom metal in terms of tempo, often the earliest examples of the hybrid involved a greater level of tonal dissonance, but usually relied more on the guttural vocal delivery to contrast itself from the more traditional strains.

Hooded Menace, a band that carries all of the characteristics of a revivalist outfit, exemplifies every single one of these characteristics to a sheer fault on their sophomore effort "Never Cross The Dead". Elements of Autopsy and the slower menacing character of mid 90s Morbid Angel play a slightly more sizable role in the character of their sound than the largely iconic early purveyors of the death/doom style Anathema, My Dying Bride and Paradise Lost, though at times one can't help but hear overt Saint Vitus and Candlemass elements leap out of the guitar work at times. Particularly during the quicker parts of "Night Of The Deathcult" it's pretty easy to recognize the trudging Black Sabbath character of the riff work, almost like a twisted, horrific take on the blues based rock character that original spawned "Hand Of Doom" and a couple other pioneering works of the early 70s.

There is a lot to like about the way this album strikes the ears, as it expresses itself through a rigidly disciplined middle ground between free flowing jam band rock and precise melodic contour. Lead guitar breaks occur in a tasteful and heavily retro character, avoiding the swarming streams of notes generally heard out of Trey Azagthoth and other early 90s death metal guitarists and listening more like a meeting point between Tony Iommi's bluesy licks and Dave Chandler's noisy wanderings. Melodic guitar breaks occur with about the same frequency as a typical Iron Maiden epic, but with a less predictable tonality to them, almost as if leading the listener through a labyrinth of potential turns but continually getting lost, and yet on the intro of "The House Of Hammer" it almost hits with a pure traditional metal vibe played at a funeral-like tempo. The drum work is generally simplistic but prone to frequent fills and shifts in feel, not all that different from a slightly more reserved Bill Ward, while generally the bass plays it safe and augments the murky depths of the guitar lines as the vocals never really leave the bottom reaches of an otherworldly groan with a typical mixture of sorrow and dread.

About the only thing that works against this album is that it limits itself a bit too much in terms of expression, resulting in songs that fairly similar sounding and an atmosphere that remains largely unvaried. Granted, this is something that was typical to most earlier examples of this style, save the occasional employing of keyboards which often served to help bolster and augment the overall density of the resulting wall of sound. Nevertheless, this is an excellent rehash of a style that has largely been abandoned by its original pioneers in favor of a lighter, softer gothic rock character of sound, and one that definitely expresses a sense of metal purity that reminds heavily of the older days where there was a greater degree of closeness between every respective sub-genre. While a far cry from "Master Of Reality", its influence upon "Never Cross The Dead" can still be picked up amid the heavy level of evolution that occurred from the 70s to the 90s. Sometimes old tricks work about as well as new ones, be it exploring territory that was first hit almost 20 years prior, or featuring a couple of Nazgûl-like characters on the album cover.

Hooded Menace is a Finnish death/doom band signed to Profound Lore. Considering my Metal Archives profile lists "death and doom" as my favorite genres, and Profound Lore is Profound Lore, there is nothing about it that didn't pique my interest.

Their style can be described succinctly: imagine Bloodbath covering Candlemass. The guitar has that same crunchy quality as Bloodbath's, and the vocals--yes, the vocals sound like Bloodbath as well (somewhere in between Åkerfeldt and Tägtgren), which is an incredible compliment to his talent as a death growler. The bass is audible, and the drums have a natural sound, with both instruments played in an unobtrusive way.

But once you get past the sounds of the vocals and guitar, there is nothing death metal in the compositions they play. The riffs and tempo are purely doom. Most of it's slow but it goes a bit faster at times, ranging from the near-funereal to the speed of a slow Maiden track (see "Night of the Deathcult" for examples of both). The title track is the best one on the album, and it grooves like something off Candlemass's self-titled. The leads are simple, with one of the best being a simple solo that weaves back and forth in the mix ("Terror Castle"); a few times they sound a bit more like My Dying Bride ("Rituals of Mortal Cremation").

All of the above are very high compliments, but the songwriting needs some improvement. An EP consisting of only the first three songs would have been astoundingly good, but the rest of the album is mostly forgettable. The low point is "As the Creatures Ascend", with lackluster riffs and vocals that fight against the music rather than blending with it. Still, those first three tracks are VERY good.

The Verdict: Hooded Menace have a lot of things going for them, and if they would fill a full-length with songs the quality of the first three tracks on this album, it could be an instant classic. I'll definitely be watching out for what they do next.

originally written for http://fullmetalattorney.blogspot.com/

I like some spice in my doom; I prefer when there's some movement at the funeral. Hooded Menace manage to run the table and display a mastery of everything dismal while incorporating skull shattering elements of mid-paced and melodic death metal. The result is an incredibly dynamic and engaging album. Never Cross The Dead is a juggernaut of funereal entertainment.

My favorite doom/death albums, like My Dying Bride's The Dreadful Hours for example, display dynamism of tempo as well as melodic memorability. Hooded Menace nail that aesthetic. I've been walking around with the guitar melodies from this album imprinted on my brain ever since it showed up in the mail.

When you bring the Bride to the funeral, you're also inviting the angst ridden Gothic Gruyère. Hooded Menace avoid that unfortunate pitfall by instead inviting hungry undead Templar Knights, mad men, monsters and grave-robbing fiends. The lyrical horror here is at turns campy and gore splattered, but consistently entertaining. Lasse Pyykkö's vocals are the sweet guttural sauce on this metal brain-pie. His incredible death-dealings manage to approach Michael Mikael Åkerfeldt's vocal mastery in Bloodbath.

Lasse Pyykkö is a ravaging riff machine as well as the mastermind behind Hooded Menace. In contrast to the moments of plodding dirge, his crushing death-riffs inspire me get up and sprint around my house looking for brains to devour. The guitar tone is incredibly satisfying, conveying the crystal clear darkness of a bottomless abyss. These riffs frequently move with a gargantuan swing, from which tentacles of melody unfurl to trip up your attention. Absurdly catchy death metal episodes burst from side-halls to unexpectedly disembowel you. Grotesque galloping riffage induces you to run for your life while simultaneously juicing oranges and banging your head.

When it comes down to it, funeral doom consistently fails to hold my attention. Hooded Menace, on the other hand, grab me by the throat. Yes, there's plenty of creeping, crawling slowness here, but it's simply the low end of a wide spectrum of momentum on Never Cross the Dead. If you've even got a passing interest in doom/death, you should check out this putrid mutant beast of an album.

Originally posted here: http://atanamar.blogspot.com/

Lasse Pyykkö has by now proven himself more than the match of Sweden's 'Rogga' Johansson; that is a single individual involving himself in a number of old school revival projects, many of which are teeming with quality. Having now listened through this album about a dozen times, it's difficult not to think of 'Leper Messiah' Pyykkö as the very best of his breed, because Hooded Menace is most likely the best of these revival works which channel the crushing sounds of 90s forebears into a tidier, modern mortuary of goddamn death and doom.

Fulfill the Curse was a fairly amazing album when it was released in 2008, but Lasse appears to have surpassed that record with a more melodic effort that maintains all of the rigors and even manages to inject a stronger feel of creativity into a few of the riffs. To take a long stagnant genre like death/doom and not only invigorate it, but make it fun to listen to is no simple feat, and I'm sure the band's campy horror lyrical themes might turn some old codgers away, but I've learned not to bite the the hand that feeds, especially when its gouging me on a sound I've rarely enjoyed in 15 years at least.

It's all here: the crushing force of bands like Asphyx or Runemagick in their most doomed of days, with a dash of the even earlier charisma of Autopsy, or My Dying Bride and Paradise Lost at their most loathsome, ichor bleeding hearts. But Never Cross the Dead doesn't just end there. It's not merely a tribute. The band have sharpened their scalpels and dissected precisely what makes one of these songs effective, and honed each of the seven original compositions here into a perfect, solemn force spinning tales of morbid, classic horror. Rarely does an album flow with such determination, and I can hardly think of a single riff across the first 48 minutes which doesn't seriously kick ass. "Rituals of Mortal Cremation" crushes with its huge, haunted melodic lamentations, and the "The House of Hammer" carves an epitaph into the tomb of the beloved film institution.

Unlike many albums of its type, however, Never Cross the Dead does not simply settle for slower, boring material through its entirely, very often picking up to a rousing mid paced crushing rhythm (as in "Never Cross the Dead" or "Night of the Deathcult") that induces immediate headbanging alongside Lasse's masterful, massive grinding vocals. He's got to be one of the most consistent vocalists of this genre. Despite a lack of real range, each line is delivered with enough inflection to taunt the listener away from the sterile monotony of the average growler. Really the only weaker moment here is the metallic instrumental take on "Theme from Return of the Evil Dead", but it's not bad, it's just that the rest of the album is so potent.

I would have thought myself tired of this style after Fulfill the Curse had Hooded Menace simply decided to phone in a sequel, but it's clear a great care has been placed into just about every festering, necrotic second of this record. It's one of the best albums I've heard lately, one of the best of its style to date (I'm not kidding), and well worth the investment whether you're an old hand at the cemetery or you just started digging up graves.

Highlights: there will be a buffet after this funeral, and you're all invited.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com