Published: April 8, 2015

To create a somber and darkened form of music, which can bind together the harshness and aggressive sound of Death Metal or Black Metal with the sinister atmosphere and slow tempos of Doom Metal, is not a new thing into Metal. Many bands are doing this since the second half of the 90s. And as an heir of their efforts, from Spain, we have WOMB coming with their first album, "Deception Through Your Lies".

The sound is heavy and abrasive, with slow paced tempos and long songs (something between six and nine minutes of duration), giving their music an entire darkened and intense impact. But they have, as well, a deep sense of melody, and even being so brutal and oppressive, "Deception Through Your Lies" has touches of elegance on their work, especially due some melodic guitar parts and solos. It's heavy, aggressive and melancholic.

The sound quality is very good. It's raw and dirty as their musical efforts need to become a somber and heavy form of music, but as well, it's clean in a sense that their songs need to be understood. All that's left to say, in a simple way, is that the balance between the needed clearness with the essential rawness is a satisfactory way.

The album has five songs only, but all of them are really good. "Echoes of Our Scars" is done in a depressive and heavy way, with some very good pianos on its beginning, before Hell comes in form of intense and good guitar riffs. On "Ends", they keep the same heavy and oppressive atmosphere, but some more melodic and elegant moments enter the song, with good grunts and excellent melodic guitars, and the same elements appear on "March", where some elegant and introspective guitar solos are great. The harsh and raw feeling of a funeral coming reigns on "Equidistant", where bass guitar and drums create a strong and heavy rhythmic basis, keeping the tempos slow and bitter. And "Forgotten by Her Bliss" is a final song, with very good aggressiveness presented, but with a darkened and morbid feeling.

They are really good, but WOMB has potential to go further and explore new musical possibilities.