Whilst Dark Essence Records’ impressive band roster has never been short of Black and Extreme Metal, the slow, heavy tones of Doom have, until now, been noticeable by their absence. But that is all about to change as the Bergen-based label announced today that they had signed Norwegian Doomsters DWAAL.
Formed during 2014 in Norway’s capital city Oslo, DWAAL is a five-headed behemoth, assaulting the listener with a dense wall of sound that lies somewhere at the intersection of Doom and Post Metal. The atmosphere they create is one of slow motion, laden with heavy, sludgy, gloomy riffs, punctuated alternately by despairing vocals one minute, and minimalistic, melancholic melodies the next. Or, as the band like to put it: “A punch in the throat followed by a soothing caress, followed by another punch in the throat”.
DWAAL’s lineup is comprised of Christian Natusch on Vocals & Synth, Eigil Dragvik on Guitar & Backing vocals, Rikke Karlsen on Guitar, Stian Hammer on Bass and Anders Johnsen on Drums. The band’s studio debut was self-released in April of this year to a warm reception from the Norwegian underground. The EP, titled “Darben”, is a 31 minute, two-track opus which can be heard below and at https://dwaaldoom.bandcamp.com
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Work has now begun on DWAAL’s first full-length album, with tracking expected to start in the spring of 2018 for release later in the year.
More information about DWAAL can be found on the band’s Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/dwaaldoom/
A video of DWAAL performing live at Blitz, in Oslo, during 2017 can be seen below and at https://youtu.be/UX4h12QKkQc
