Just when you thought that we had as many styles of 'core as humanly possible, along comes UK act Black Tongue to give us what is apparently being labeled as 'doomcore'. Their latest release for Century Media, titled The Unconquerable Dark contains nine tracks of slow, down-tuned death marches littered with venomous hardcore styled barking & growls. Musically speaking, there are some heavy, heavy guitar & bass riffs here, and you can hear some haunting melodies parked inside some of these songs ("In the Wake ov the Wolf" instantly comes to mind), but man, the vocals are just so overpowering and so, how shall we say it, 'un-doom-like' that it kind of spoils what otherwise might have been a fairly enjoyable extreme metal record. The band even tosses in some, gulp, breakdowns in spots, further adding to the puzzlement. I'm all for modernizing doom, but it's to the point here where Black Tongue have basically just released a brutal deathcore/metalcore album and tossed in a few slow riffs and called it doom. And as far as a deathcore album goes, there's not a lot here that we haven't heard a million times before, and better, solid though it is in spots. "Prince of Ash" is heavy...damn heavy, but the vocals are way more brutal than they need to be, and quite frankly sound like what you'd hear from any number of 'core related acts currently on the scene. I'm going to take a pass on this one, but if you love brutal, extreme modern metal, your mileage may vary.
Track Listing
1) Plague Worship - 5.06
2) In the Wake ov the Wolf - 3.55
3) Young Gloom - 5.33
4) L'appel du Vide - 3.42
5) Vermintide (ft Eddie Hermida) - 6.38
6) Prince of Ash - 5.18
7) The Masquerade - 5.33
8) A Pale Procession ii: Death March - 4.41
9) I'm so Tired of Sighing. Please Lord, Let It Be Night - 5.18
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