Published: February 19, 2015

Over North Carolina a black cloud called Atten Ash lingers, bearing doom for all who fall under its spell. Doom of the bleakest sort, of a blackening of the eyes and heart; doom of the soul. These guys make seriously heavy, heavy music.

Recorded in 2012 but not seeing official physical release until 2015, The Hourglass is a very melodic death doom album that is like being hit by a bus. The songs contained within are a little short in comparison to some doom, but far too long for many attention spans,  They separate themselves from the rest of the death doom pack by adding in a bit of funeral doom and loads of leads. Solos are all over the place, and none of them sound forced or out of place, and all of them are gorgeous pieces in and of themselves.

Vocally, Atten Ash have quite a few death vocals, and they are excellent, but it is the clean singing that really captivates me with this album. James has such an great voice, full of deep emotion, but he does not get maudlin or pathetic, where I find plenty of clean singing in this kind of doom to go.

Altogether, I think The Hourglass is a stellar doom release, reminiscent of the old school death doom masters Anathema, but also of Lacrimas Profundere, The 11th Hour, October Tide, and Woods of Ypres.