Label : Eyes Like Snow
Review by Luisa Mercier
Australia is a country very prolific in the field of doom, gothic-doom metal and Rituals of the Oak are just another evidence which backs up this theory. The band is fronted by the Lebanese singer Sabine Hamad (former Kimaera singer) and is now about to release its second album, “Come, Taste the Doom”. As the title makes clear, the doom played by Rituals of the Oak is quite classic: slow paced, guitars tuned down and vocals almost spoken by Sabine, which sings in a very different way than she used to, being Kimaera more gothic oriented.
The ten minute opener “Here” is an example, while the following “The Horla”, apparently inspired by a French horror short-story, is no less gloomy and slow with that epic, solemn feeling typical of classic doom metal. An acoustic guitars appears at the beginning of “On the Sixth Moon” and Sabine sings sweetly over a track which has more of a prog feeling than doom, never renouncing to sad guitars. “Serpentine Tongues” goes back to the general mood of the album, in the vein of the first two tracks , quite different is the last song, “All Wells Are Poisoned”, in the beginning almost has a melancholic folk feeling, then it goes back to doom til the end of the track. I can say that “Come, Taste the Doom” is not for everyone, is not the typical female fronted album, but I am sure that doomsters will appreciate it a lot since it was written specifically for them.
Rating – 75/100
Tracklist
- Here
- The Horla
- On the Sixth Moon
- Serpentine Tongues
- All Wells Are Poisoned
Line Up
- Sabine Hamad – Vocals
- Shane Linfoot – Guitars
- Dale Harrison – Bass
- Matthew Shriffer – Drums