#NowPlaying the recent album "In the Glow of the Vatican Fire" by the Band #WhenTheDeadboltBreaks from the #USA

#Doom #Experimental #Psychedelic #Death #MixedVocals #AlbumsOf2025

Personal Rating: 3 / 10

Recommended Tracks: -

https://whenthedeadboltbreaks.bandcamp.com/album/in-the-glow-of-the-vatican-fire

Doubtsower – The Past Melts Away with a Sneer Review

By ClarkKent

It’s amazing how quickly November, and my month of doom, has flown by. It seems the constant exposure to slow-paced music has made the days move faster, not slower. For my final November doom promo, what could be more appropriate than one described as “one long song funeral doom?” While the Welsh doom band containing this descriptor, Doubtsower, is new to me, the man behind the project, Matt Strangis, has three previous releases dating back to 2021. Although most of these earlier albums cross the one-hour mark, none of the songs run longer than fifteen minutes 1, so this is new territory for Doubtsower. Strangis describes his own songwriting process as “punk DIY,” and he does much of his recording at home, with some mastering help from Greg Chandler of Esoteric. For insomniacs, one long funeral doom song sounds like the perfect cure, but be careful, this doesn’t backfire and instead keeps you hooked and wide awake.

While the premise of a 48-minute funeral doom song brings to mind other ambitious projects from Bell Witch and Oak, Doubtsower’s The Past Melts Away with a Sneer turns out to be one weird beast. Doubtsower isn’t exactly a funeral doom band, but an experimental doom band. Strangis keeps his one song’s tempo slow—funeral doom slow—yet it has much more in common with the avant-garde music of John Cage than My Dying Bride or Esoteric. It makes use of syncopated riffs that cut short and disorient listeners, as well as some unusual noises, such as static scratches and the clicking and rattling of ratchets. “The Past Melts Away with a Sneer” also makes use of silences, though they’re not as lengthy as “4’33,” largely as a transitional tool. This use of odd sounds, silent moments, and suspenseful repetitions of short riffs creates an unsettling mood early on, and with the mix of sludge, I couldn’t help but think of experimental sludge/horror/doom outfit When the Deadbolt Breaks.

Over the course of its 48 minutes, The Past Melts Away with a Sneer is an ever-shifting amalgamation of styles, an amorphic blob that somehow holds everything together as a cohesive whole. Sounds often shift minute-by-minute despite the glacial pacing. While the early goings have the John Cage thing going, at the 8-minute mark, the track breaks out into the one segment that sounds like traditional funeral doom, with plodding drum beats, crushing guitars, and a low, harsh growl. Yet just as you think this is the direction it’s going, the song goes silent and then shifts into a new form. The extensive use of silence and light droning makes the sudden bursts of energy peppered throughout all the more striking. About 20 minutes in, “The Past Melts Away with a Sneer” morphs into industrial dance, snapping you awake and commanding your body to move. The song morphs yet again, this time into something hopeful and poppy, with light, Weezer-like strums. However, even this segment doesn’t last long, and somehow Strangis is able to convince us that these disparate sounds all form one coherent tune.

It’s pretty impressive how “The Past Melts Away with a Sneer” is able to remain engaging for its entire run, but some moments of repetition do derail portions of the track. This is most egregious at 29 minutes as Doubtsower transitions into a lengthy portion of sludge/doom. Throughout this approximately eight-minute segment, there’s a consistent, repetitive riff that grows tiresome over time. Still, the song rights itself for the finale with the return of a catchy piano/synth melody from the beginning. As this melody begins to fade into silence and lulls you into a sense of closure, the track gains a second wind and hurls forth an energetic set of industrial riffs and blast beats. There’s an unpredictability that catches you off guard and keeps the record fresh.

If the album I described above sounds like a nightmare, that’s the whole point. It’s meant to be a “disorienting descent into a nihilistic free-for-all,” and Strangis succeeds in making that vision come to fruition. It may not always be easy listening, but it’s rarely boring. Having spent some time with the prior Doubtsower records, this one stands out as Strangis’s most engaging and best-written. The Past Melts Away with a Sneer has caused me to question my usually negative relationship with experimental metal. It has left me feeling disoriented, but in a good way, and it’s an experience that I recommend for the curious and lovers of the weird.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: WAV
Label: Self-Release
Website: Bandcamp
Releases Worldwide: November 28th, 2025

#2025 #30 #avanteGarde #bellWitch #doomMetal #doubtsower #esoteric #experimentalMetal #funeralDoom #industrialMetal #johnCage #myDyingBride #nov25 #oak #review #reviews #selfReleased #sludgeMetal #thePastMeltsAwayWithASneer #weezer #welshMetal #whenTheDeadboltBreaks

Morrn 🤘

Very nice doomy #Sludge from long-running #WhenTheDeadboltBreaks.

https://whenthedeadboltbreaks.bandcamp.com/album/in-the-glow-of-the-vatican-fire

#NowPlaying #RandomMusickMayhem #Metal #Doom #NewAlbums2025

When the Deadbolt Breaks – In the Glow of the Vatican Fire Review

By ClarkKent

When the Deadbolt Breaks is a name designed to elicit feelings of horror. It could be the mundane horror of needing to shell out cash to replace a busted deadbolt, or the life-and-death horror of the deadbolt snapping while you’re trying to lock out a deadly assailant. This fits with the band’s exploration into unsettling music that evokes psychological horror. In the Glow of the Vatican Fire marks album number seven in the 20-year career of these Connecticut doom-slingers. The Metal Archives reveals a band with a history of cycling through members, and that shows through their shifting sound from album to album. Yet lead songwriter Aaron Lewis has been consistent in his intent to unsettle listeners. For those of you stumbling into this review in search of how to fix a broken deadbolt, prepare instead for a dose of sludge-y horror.

To achieve their core sludge/doom sound, When the Deadbolt Breaks uses fuzzy, trudging guitars and plodding drums. Expect long, drawn-out guitar riffs played at the speed of funeral doom, a la Godthrymm. Aaron Lewis mixes it up, however, by occasionally plucking in a manner reminiscent of Dolven’s acoustic doom or speeding things up with frantic tremolos. The ghostly chanting of Amber Leigh achieves a haunting beauty; she sounds eerily serene as she sings about the coming of death in “The Scythe Will Come.” In The Glow of the Vatican Fire isn’t just another slow, plodding doom record, however. It features lots of tempo shifts. The follow-up to the slower-paced, gentler opening track is a frenzied, chaotic “Deus Vault,” which turns up the dial on the noise and features frenetic drumming from Rob Birkbeck. These tempo shifts are common within songs, switching from breakneck speed to turtle crawl, enhancing their narrative and emotional effects.

In the Glow of the Vatican Fire creates a variety of moods, ranging from hopeful to manic to depressed, thanks to the varied vocal performances of Lewis and Leigh. On “The Deep Well,” the two alternate singing parts, Leigh crooning with a lilting, plaintive voice, while Lewis sounds more pained as he warbles about struggles with depression. Instrumentation is also key in developing mood. When the Deadbolt Breaks frequently builds tension through the use of riffs and drumming that grow in intensity over time, with the tension released in a manic frenzy. Lewis adds to the terror of these instrumental outbursts with menacing, violent growls (“The Deep Well”). Not all choices work equally well. Some songs feature vocal texturing that’s meant, perhaps, to be jarring (“The Scythe Will Come,” “Burning Zozobro”), but it instead serves as a distraction from the story, the same way bad CGI can ruin a movie.

Whenever an album surpasses the hour mark, it can be difficult to justify all of the choices that go into the songwriting. In the Glow of the Vatican Fire consists of eight tracks, half of them over ten minutes long. I enjoyed the long-form songs a little more than the shorter ones because Lewis and company prove to be effective storytellers. However, there are questionable choices made in the name of experimentation. Take “The Chaos of Water” as an example. This tune has some of my favorite and least favorite moments on the record. The opening, thrashy two minutes are tons of fun, and the final four minutes feature Leigh’s best singing. However, the middle portion slows to a crawl while a robotic voice gives a speech over a single, slow riff strumming repeatedly. It kills the narrative on what was otherwise a very compelling song. Sometimes When the Deadbolt Breaks does too much where simpler would be more effective.

I realize that an hour-long sludge record is the true horror for many metal fans. Yet When the Deadbolt Breaks have composed a well-written album that’s worth spending a few hours with. Based on my overview of prior records, In the Glow of the Vatican Fire is also their best. The presence of Leigh is a massive boon. But it’s also clear that Lewis has improved his songwriting acumen. True, he has some work to do in the editing department, but for the most part, the 10+ minute songs earn every second. He proves to be a master of the slow build, and if you have patience, you’ll find the payoff to be rewarding. I hope When the Deadbolt Breaks can return with all members intact and a wiser Lewis penning his tales of existential horror.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 5 | Format Reviewed: 320kbps mp3
Label: Argonauta Records
Websites: Bandcamp | Facebook
Releases Worldwide: June 27th, 2025

#2025 #30 #AmericanMetal #ArgonautaRecords #AvantGarde #Dolven #DoomMetal #Godthrymm #InTheGlowOfTheVaticanFire #Jun25 #Review #Reviews #Sludge #WhenTheDeadboltBreaks