Of the many genres that populate the landscape that is metal, one of the most interesting is death doom. This hybrid attempts to combine two genres that have distinct features, and combines them into one, with varying levels of success. One band that has done this very well is Cavurn, who released a three song EP titled “Rehearsal” later last year. While it hinges on doom metal a lot, the death metal is clearly there, and the strengths of both genres are fully realized. “I” opens this album, and does so with a very nice doom riff, and the first thing that’ll become apparent is the raw production on here, that still manages to give the music some power behind it. This song, along with the others on this EP, has a very haunting vibe, and the riffs here are very well written.
Up next is “II”, and this one has a soft opening before launching into a very slow and very heavy song. The vocals on here are also very nice, combining both very deep doom metal style vocals with some almost black metal shrieking. The writing is also very off-putting, and feels unpredictable in a good way, keeping the listener on their toes. “III” ends this album, and is the song that the band uses to show off their death metal side. The opening of this is heavy and chaotic, and while it meanders between fast and slow, it not only maintains the same level of heaviness throughout, but the writing maintains the same level of polish, ending this album on a very good note. This is very good. Doom metal can be a turn-off to some, and certain sections of this EP can be very slow, but the writing and the polish keep you wanting to hear what the band is going to do next, even if some people find some of these sections “boring”. This isn’t one to sleep on.
Overall Score: 9.0/10
Review by Sam Hookom
