Shit, here's exactly the kind of DOOM stuff I actually wish to hear from a young starting band , basically Trad but cleverly enriched with other subgenres sounds !
I usually take references in the past, sometimes very distant, but this time no need to go far away, as the 3 songs presented here by BALAM remind me some recent jewels... Indeed, if "Misery Wizard" (strangely the cover present some similarities too), "In The Chapel of the Black Hand" and "The Wretch" have been among your higlights of the last 12 months, then BALAM will certainly be your new revelation in a few minutes; and if that's not your usual cup of tea, you should still give it a try and it could maybe help you to reconsiderate your position towards Trad' Doom!
It's not that BALAM have created a new genre, neither did they reinvent the codes of Trad' doom, the music is slow and crushing with nice ethereal melodies and an almost perpetual mournful mood . But they have a fuzzier (think about the most crushing moments of SLEEP, in the song "soul scour" especially) approach than anyone else in the category, also, beyond the often scary and menacing heaviness, a nice little emphasis on gloomy psychedelic overtones can be noticed, especially in the vocals which could slightly remind the dragonized Ron Rochondo himself...
I can not tell more about the band (their FB page being stingy on informations) except that this is a quintet from Rhode Island and they look pretty young ... but one thing is 100% sure, this sounds definitely awesome and extremely promising ; so download this now, it's free and top notch !!!!
https://www.facebook.com/#!/balamband
