Hiram - If Up Were Along

Not done an update for a while, so here's a quick one because this album is awesome and I need to stop being so lazy.

Today's offering is an album called If Up Were Along by Hiram from Sheffield, UK. There's something about the north that seems to breed good doom bands, I guess it's the whole bleak northern vibe, not that we southerners can't compete (or at least I'd like to think we can, what with me being in a doomy metal band).

If Up Were Along is pretty epic, a 2 disc affair at over 1 hour 30 minutes. It starts off with a clean/acousticy intro with some weird noises but soon gets down to its doomy business, with a sound that's reminiscent of Black Sheep Wall if they hadn't listened to quite so much Meshuggah! The whole album is a nice mix of doom and heavy post rock, with some nice melodic passages but enough heaviness and screaming to keep a metaller like me happy as well.

192Kbps or 320Kbps MP3s via HTTP from Mediafire

Hiram on Myspace

Arteriosus - Promo Demo

Arteriosus are a progressive doom band from Brighton. I saw them a few weeks back with my mates Here There Be Monsters and the mighty Blackstorm at The Prince Albert and was rather impressed. Normally not too into the buildy post-rockish type doom, but these guys managed to pull it off in a way I rather enjoyed! Tons of feedback and huge guitar and bass sounds, as you would expect from a doom band, and some rather nice melodic elements too. I swapped a demo CD of my band Funeral Hag for theirs and it is rather good. Just noticed you can download it for free, so here it is! Enjoy. I shall be going to see them this evening at The Hope , along with From Beneath It Devours who are also rather good.

??Kbps MP3 Via HTTP from Rapidshare Password – SirensSound.blogspot.com (Yes I nicked the link from someone else's blog)
128Kbps MP3 Via HTTP from Last.FM (Individual tracks)

Arteriosus on Myspace
Arteriosus on Facebook

Necro Deathmort - This Beat Is Necrotronic

Necro Deathmort are a very odd band! I'm not entirely sure how, but I stumbled upon them in my wanderings around the internets one afternoon. A British 2 piece, they mix all kinds of odd sounds together and I find the results rather enjoyable.

The album starts with some weird digital noise that would be at home on any noisecore album, then goes on to a stomping industrial breakbeat track, followed by a nice slow instrumental doom track, followed by a floaty, ambient soundscape... This album is all over the place, but in a very good way! You can download it for free, courtesy of Distraction Records, but if you do like it then please go buy it from their website.

320 Kbps MP3 via HTTP from Rapidshare, zSHARE, Megaupload, DepositFiles or Badongo

Necro Deathmort at Myspace
Distraction Records at Myspace
Distraction Records website