That’s right. I said it. Now let me explain why. With a list of bands like CANDLEMASS, GRAND MAGUS, WITCHCRAFT and KATATONIA coming from your homeland, no one can touch you. Hell, I don’t think there’s anything Sweden can’t do—from bringing power metal back to life (HAMMERFALL, NOCTURNAL RITES) to the New Wave of Swedish Death Metal. But that’s another discussion for another time. Back to doom. Well, we now have WORLD BELOW, a side project featuring Jonas Kjellgren and Ronnie Bergenstahl of CENTINEX that exists for one purpose: to praise Almighty Doom. And if you ask the Grim One, they’ve done doom proud.

Though the foundation here is the epic doom of CANDLEMASS, this is hardly all that’s going on here. This is the first band that I’ve ever heard that’s managed to, in one album, pay tribute to each and every subgenre of doom there is. You’ve got the blistering B flat guitar tuning of Wino (played with a dirty NWOSDM tone, adding their own spin). You’ve also got some interesting keyboard action going on, from slight atmosphere to heavy-hitting super-low piano pounding which sound phenomenal. Vocalist Mikael Danielsson, though certainly no Messiah, fits well with the music and at times does a fair Lee Dorian imitation. Now I said that every subgenre is covered, meaning that there is a touch of doom-death to be had here too, and while it’s certainly not needed it doesn’t detract from the rest of what’s going on either. Plus, like with any good doom band, you’ve got long songs that don’t seem long. As a matter of fact, the crowning gem on this album is the 14 minute long “Epitaph”, the longest track on the CD. These songs are crafted masterfully—they use harmonies and chord progressions that make me jealous that I couldn’t come up with them myself, and that’s no joke.

Obviously side projects (particularly those in differing genres) are iffy, but WORLD BELOW have hit a home run with this one. I have no idea whether or not they have any intention of making this side project an ongoing thing like BLOODBATH, but if and when their next release comes out, I’m first in line to pick it up. This is easily the CD to pick up for anyone who loves doom and wants to celebrate all that is great about it. Doom on, brothers!

- Cardona

OFFICIAL SITE: www.worldbelow.tk

MP3 SOUND SCRAP: Spiritual Disaster

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