What the hell does it take for a doom band to get noticed in 2025? Jump back two decades or so ago and you will witness a noteworthy pinnacle, with not only the more traditional variation finding a fresh resurgence, but offshoots such as sludge, stoner, funeral and death-doom equally crawling their way onto the glossy pages. The infatuation faded as quickly as it arrived, though, and if I were a betting man, which I actually ain’t, I’d say that had a fair amount to do with the fact that doom remains the most conservative branch of our heavy metal tree of life, and a great many people need progression / innovation / frippery to keep them interested. Sure, we had outfits like Confessor, Revelation (Baltimore) and Memory Driven / OverSoul (R.I.P. Dennis Cornelius), but those projects barely managed to ping the broader radar, despite releasing a wealth of interesting doom music.
Where the fires never really managed to wane, however, was within the proportionately fertile grounds of epic doom, which makes this particular lunkhead happy as a puppy with two peters, because epic doom happens to be my favorite branch of the slow your roll side of heavy metal. A used cassette copy of Epicus Doomicus Metallicus back in the day was my first stumble into the foray, and the years since that 1986 moonshot have delivered a wealth of boons to further champion epic doom’s cause.
“What about the riffs? Do you even riff, bro?” ~ A hair farmer garbed in a bootleg Tales of Medusa shirt
Yes, riffs are obviously paramount in all of heavy metal, including epic doom, but the leads and vocals are absolutely crucial when it comes to fortifying and lifting that requisite MAJESTIC element, so ignore or downplay those factors at your own peril. And as far as pacing’s concerned, It’s extremely advantageous to understand that, while underscoring a plodding element is clearly welded to the fundamental template, doom needn’t…
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always
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…………be
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………………slllllllooooowwwww.
Occasionally hitting the gas pedal in most any form of doom not only secures focus, it allows the slower measures to feel all the more weighty, which is a big win. So, yes: A killer vocalist, killer leads, and varied pacing are all vital components, which marks an ideal whereabouts to introduce the International triumph that is Anchorite.
Formed by two preeminent doom metal devotees—Malta’s Leo Stivala (vocalist of the very excellent Forsaken) and Sweden’s Peter Svensson (bassist of Cult of the Fox, Void Moon, Gauntlet Rule, et al.)—amidst the 2018 Malta Doom Metal Fest in, you guessed it, Malta, Anchorite’s principal objective became quite evident immediately upon the release of their 2020 debut, Further from Eternity: fusing the upthrusting energy of epic forebears such as Candlemass and Solitude Aeturnus to the galloping might of Manilla Road. Granted, not at all an original concept, seeing as how I just mentioned the existence of nearly a hundred other releases that adhere to a very similar canon above, but Anchorite hauls in the pedigree and grand intent necessary to land that crucial right hook.
Firstly, Leo Stivala continues to kill it after nearly 35 years of wailing like a multi-class bard / fighter. Does he have the full range of a Messiah or Robert Lowe in their prime? No, not quite. He does, however, pack one HELL of a punch with his delivery, and you’ll need to search far and wide to uncover someone who sings with a more impactful level of emotion inside their respective range. Accordingly, he sounds just as convincing in the album’s softer moments—the sudden mellow shift halfway into “The Lighthouse Chronicles,” and especially at the outset of the absolutely excellent “the Apostate’s Prayer”—as he does when the songs are just BELTING OUT majestic choruses that stick in your skull for days. Try opener “Realm of Ruin” as a very fine example:
One of my very favorite elements about the band, though, deals with the fact that, while they cite Manilla Road as a primary influence, it’s actually an early / mid-90s’ era of King Diamond / Mercyful Fate component that appears to sway the band’s more ‘traditional metal’ face. This applies to most everything across the board here as it pertains to the album’s more hustling moments: the overall guitar tone when riffing, the dramatic temperament shifts, the way each song weaves a story, and the manner in which guitarist Martin Andersen (Meridian) attacks the bevy of solos with an unmistakable Fate flare. It’s such a palpable element, in fact, that the band managed to get MICHAEL DENNER TO GUEST ON THE RECORD. The one drawback: I have no fucking idea which song Denner’s on, as nothing inside the promo copy or buried in the bandcamp rundown solves this particularly delicious caper. If I had to guess, though? (Oh, this is fun.) I’d wager that’s him soloing about 3:40 into “Devil On the Throne,” a song that otherwise flashes one of the record’s most classic trad doom footprints.
As strong as the album’s overall impression is, though, it is not without faults. As is the case with about 90% of metal these days, Realm of Ruin starts to feel like it’s running a bit long the deeper you get into the journey. It’s not exactly an egregious case here, hitting around a 55-minute full span, but when we realize our apex ancestors—Epicus, Nightfall, Into the Depths and Crimson Horizon—all managed to set the bar at impossible heights in well under 50 minutes, it would admittedly be nice to find the successors following suit. (MORE SINGLE LPs, PLEASE.) In this particular case, Realm of Ruin tromps out its most aggressive wallop with track five, “Room in the Mirror” (an excellent song that flashes the strongest Fate-isms AND the record’s gnarliest riff breakout at 2:20), and then follows it with three very similarly paced slow-rollers to finish out the trek. Of those three, “No Vestige of Light” and closer “Kingdom Undone” are the catchiest and most majestic, and “The Unforgiving Ghost” feels the most like a Sabbath 13 B-side, so take a stab at which one I’d opt to cut to award Realm of Ruin an even higher ranking. That being said, it’s hard to complain about an album that delivers on seven of eight cuts, so I’ll just be over here flogging myself in tribute to doom’s penchant for atonement.
Right. So, if you’ve made it this far, you’ve likely already decided whether or not Realm of Ruin is the right fit for you. The bottom line is this: If you love epic doom with great vocals, great leads, an engaging narrative, and OH YEAH, bass you can actually hear (gasp!), Anchorite is basically the righteous paladin of your adventure party—a tank fully decked in plate armor that may only chug 10 feet per turn, but when they get to the encounter all will bear witness to a majestic form of virtuous glory that mows through gloom like a Sunforged blade through an abyss-load of miserable, clambering goblins. Or, in far less nerdy terms, the album simply delivers the fricken goods.
