Review: –

This latest album from the Swedish five-piece is an intriguing one and a definite slow grower that demands multiple listens to let the myriad of riffs and melodies sink their claws into you and embed themselves into your subconscious. But once you do spend some time with it you will find it swirling around repeatedly in your head for hours afterwards.

The opening track builds up gradually, which is hypnotising and entrancing with it’s drum patterns and looping riffs. Overall it is not a hugely heavy sounding album as there are plenty of melodic moments where they opt for more of a chilling atmosphere as opposed to all out heaviness, but when they do interject the heavier riffing it works to great effect.

Head Of The Demon have crafted a wonderfully wicked mix of dark evil atmosphere and organic doom riffage in their own unique way and have created an approach to songwriting that they can call their own even at this early phase of their existence.

They call their occult musical rites “deadly black doom”, which is a very apt description as their sound evokes images of darkness and devilry and is essentially a mix of melodic traditional doom and down tempo cold black metal grimness.

The vocals are kept to a minimum which works with the added and frequent use of chantlike vocal passages, the hoarse and harsh approach being reminiscent of Tom G Warrior and their peers in Anguish overall. Light a black candle and immerse yourself in the captivating ritualistic soundscape.