Three releases through the feed this week. The Warning one is the story. Patrick Walker breaks twenty years of doom-metal silence with the first single off a new full-length, and the supporter reactions read like they have been waiting for this exact email. Saidan’s Italian black-metal Fangdriller-cycle finally lands the actual release after the Avantgarde Music pre-order announcement back in week 18. And Fires in the Distance follow up Air with the kind of doom-melodic-death record that sits inside the same shortlist the supporter comment names.
Warning — Rituals of Shame
United Kingdom · Doom Metal Featured track: Stations
Stations runs nine and a half minutes. Forty-five minutes for the album. If the rest of Rituals of Shame keeps the trajectory of the single, this is the Watching From a Distance sequel that nobody quite believed would happen.
“What an absolutely incredible way for Warning to come back. A deep, melancholic, beautiful riffing single. Picking up right where one of the greatest albums of all time, Watching From a Distance, left off. I truly cannot wait for the whole album.”
Saidan — Fangdriller: Scars Beneath Memory’s Wrist
Italy · Black Metal, avant-garde · Avantgarde Music Featured track: Kara No Bara
The actual release after the pre-order announcement we covered in week 18. Forty-seven minutes total. Saidan’s third release in the Onryō → Visual Kill → Fangdriller arc. Same label keeps catching them.
“My obsession with Saidan started with my discovery of their Onryō album, then Visual Kill elevated it to pure madness, and I still listen to it regularly. Who knows where we will go next, but I am looking forward to the whole Fang drilling another hole in my head.”
Fires in the Distance — Circadian Promise
United States · Connecticut · Doom Metal, melodic death Featured track: Of Radiance and Levitation
Forty-nine minutes. Their follow-up to Air (2023). Doom-leaning melodic death from a corner of the American scene that does not get much European press attention but quietly produces some of the most patient long-form heavy music on the continent. The closest reference points for European listeners are Khemmis, Pallbearer and YOB — same circuit, same mood-first songwriting philosophy.
“I knew that Air couldn’t be topped, but this new opus by Fires in the Distance is a list-wrecker for Doom and melodic death metal album-of-the-year. Once more they have created a deeply immersive experience and the enchanting melodies are hypnotic. Masterpiece.”
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