Runemagick, Voyage to Desolation / Dawn of the End
Eleven albums in as many years. That’s quite a feat. For Runemagick, their 11th release is just as doom and death fueled as ever. Essentially a convergence of two different releases Voyage to Desolation/Dawn of the End features eight solid tracks of slow moving doom metal with death influences. Working primarily with monolith sized apocalyptic riffs, the band methodically bulldoze their way through nearly an hour of slow (but not too slow) dark metal.
While a majority of the material on this release are instrumental in nature Rudolffson’s gruff, raw vocals do make appearances at just the right times during the album’s path to oblivion. The riffs on Voyage move at a crushingly slow and suffocating pace, but the overall feel of each track is rather airy. It’s not quite as sonic or dense as say Electric Wizard or Virgin Black, nor does it move at the decaying slowness of Rigor Sardonicous. What this album does showcase is Runemagick’s consistency and their quest to master the fine art of ominous riffs.
Preludium – Enter the Circle
The first track is about 30 seconds of nothing really, maybe some distant noise. Skip it in the future.
Voyage to Desolation
“Voyage to Desolation” starts off with thundering riffs and drums, but not at your standard death metal pace. These things are monstrous, yet slow. There’s some pretty creative guitar highlights and hooks, but the focus is definitely on the larger than life riffing. They are both memorable and devastating in their sheer monolithic feel. There are some thick bass hits that come in around the three minute mark that only seem to amplify the riffing to a whole other level. This one has a distinct desolate and eerie shroud veiled over it. The first we hear of Rudolffson’s vocals are shortly after the pace is picked up a bit and elevated with a series of riffs that have more of stoner feel to them. His delivery is rough, yet not in the guttural growling sense — more like he’s been smoke two packs a day since he was a toddler. The track lasts just over 11 and a half minutes.
Chthonic Temple Smoke
A much slower riff and light drumming open up the next track. This one is a bit darker and doomier than “Voyage to Desolation.” There is some light guitar/bass work at the two minute mark before a heavily textured and distorted bit of guitar takes over. After a brief bark from the vocals the band shifts back into bludgeoning riff mode. Slow, chugging guitars forcibly shove doom down your throat as Rudolffson growls away. I love the stoner, sludgy riff at the seven minute mark right before the group go back to the methodical riffs. The track fades slowly with light guitars and some noise.
Retaliation
Chugging riffs at a much quicker pace than anything we’ve heard thus far slowly erupt from the speakers at the start of “Retaliation.” The pace quickly slows to a crawl with light guitar and bass work for the next minute or so, before big riffs and an evil hook wake you back from your dark slumber. The galloping riffs return with the vocals. This is probably my favorite track on the disc.
Volcano Throne
“Volcano Throne” has a pretty memorable series of riffs to open it up. There is some of the more creative drum sequences on the album as well hidden throughout this song. The slight guitar tone change at the three minute mark is a nice touch as the vocals come in. The band actually delves into a bit of churning chaos right after the four minute mark that also sees them hitting some of their higher speeds. The lead that follow is pretty slick, as well.
Incatation 444
The light guitar tones on this one only serve as an intermission of sorts between sets of riffs. It lasts just over three minutes and can probably be skipped in future spins.
Magus of Fire
Thick, sludgy riffs and an eerie hook open up “Magus of Fire” as heavy drums thunder in support. The chanted vocal delivery on this one is a little off putting and only brings visions of darkly hooded druids to mind. It also gives a bit of a psychodelic feel to the song. It’s not my favorite track on the album.
Dawn of the End
“Dawn of the End” starts off slowly with ambient noise for nearly the whole first minute as guitar tones fade in slowly from the depths of nothingness. This is a slowly developing track and is pretty much how I would imagine the dawning of the end to sound, except without all the screaming of burning souls and kittens. There are some spacey elements just before the four minute mark that take the song in a completely different direction. The spacey feel continues until the track ends shortly after the six minute mark.
~ ~ ~
I like doomy and sludgy metal and there are aspects of this latest release from Runemagick that I really like, but there just aren’t enough of them to call this one a big release for the band. Sure they’ve got the apocalyptic riff down to a science, but that’s really all they have (and have had for some time now). There’s just nothing that goes along with those riffs to signify innovation or a uniqueness that would make this decent album become great.
Favorite Tracks:
Chthonic Temple Smoke
Retaliation
Volcano Throne
Additional Notes:
N/A