Windhand "Two Urns"

Genre assigning can be pretty confusing sometimes. Every foundational genre of music has a myriad of "sub-genres". Sometimes it can become a bit overwhelming due to the sheer amount of them that exist.

One in particular that I find myself scratching my head at is the genre of metal: doom metal, death metal, black metal, heavy metal, thrash metal, grindcore, industrial... the list goes on. Each one of these sub-genres has their own list of descriptions: hard, dark, heavy, gloomy, evil, sad, etc. Sometimes these genres start overlapping and can bleed into one another making them even harder to distinguish.

A great example of this is a band called Windhand. They are classified as a "doom-metal" band. At first I wasn't really hearing  the "doom" in their music. It sounded more like a psychedelic, post-rock act than it did "doom". However, upon further listening I started to see why they are indeed a "doom metal" band. The guitars are low, fuzzy, slow, and very loud, which I happen to dig very much. In Windhand's case the vocals are clear and actually sang by female lead vocalist Dorthia Cottrell.

It's a completely different experience from the traditional fast, growling "metal" that usually comes to mind. It's by far more accessible in my honest opinion.

Windhand is a good place to start if the interest of doom metal occurs. "Two Urns", the first track off of their 2015 release "Grief's Infernal Flower", has all the staples of classic "doom": prevalent sludgy guitars, a slow tempo, soaring reverbed vocals, and even a pretty killer solo. Near the end the song ceases for a bit and starts again even slower.

Pure "doom" pleasure. 

Grab those headphones or crank this shit in your car. As always...the louder...the better.




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