Darknight
Crushing sludgy doom metal is surely going to crush the air right out of your lungs, just listen to the track 'Soulless' and you'll know exactly what I mean.
Favorite track: Soulless.
"Monolithic sludge with a blistering tone and crushing grooves...Layer upon layer, the band builds a wall of sound in a short album that will melt your face. Highly recommended! Ioannis Valiakos (Desert Vulture)."
- Stoner Doom Charts
"A follow-up to their debut album, Kali Yuga, Maharaja now brings us the EP ‘Aviarium’ (2022). Its four tracks are bathed in a dark, hazy atmosphere. Savage, unhinged vocals intersected by hot, razor sharp riffage pulses hypnotically and sometimes stabs at you like a knife. Drums are wild and convulsive, often engrossingly tribalistic."
- Doomed & Stoned
Formed in late 2013 in the Gem City, Maharaja are a sludge steamroller ready to lay waste to everything in their path. Their sound is undeniably heavy and visceral; theirs is a sound you can feel; it jars your bones and shakes you to your core. Maharaja's truth lies within their bottomless heft, groove, and subject matter. While the seeds were planted with their 2014 demo and 2017 debut album, Kali Yuga, the band have completely blossomed on Aviarium.
Regarding the songwriting of the album, Maharaja shares,
"This album is a definite move in our new direction towards a more aggressive sound. Lyrically and thematically, the album is about our home, Dayton Ohio. Being inspired by real events as well as observational insight, the album converses drug addiction, murder, police violence, and the effects of living in a turbulent, depressing place. Sonically, we wanted to capture the weight and intensity of these elements: death, hysteria, tragedy, violence. Each song has its own story, terrible and true."
credits
released December 9, 2022
Maharaja is:
Eric Bluebaum - Bass / Vocals
Angus Burkhart - Guitars / Vocals
Zack Mangold - Drums
All music by Maharaja
All lyrics by Eric Bluebaum
Recorded by Shaun O' Shaughnessy at Encore Studios - Dayon, Ohio
Artwork by Nicholas Schukay
Layout by Nestor Carrera
Extremely inventive and multifaceted sci-fi prog death, just like iridescent ethereal world on the cover art. Best band's achievement up to date. And easily in 2023 AOTY list Dmitry Nevozhay
A fantastic debut showing from Baltimore metal band Born of Plagues, uniting post-metal's expansive textures with sludge's almighty muck. Bandcamp New & Notable May 19, 2021
This searing, four-track split from Bog Wizard (Michigan) and Dust Lord (Colorado) pairs stoner rock riffs with hard fantasy themes. Bandcamp New & Notable Mar 10, 2021
An outstanding Extreme doom death album, in the best tradition. The funerary atmosphere reminds of Evoken ('Centuries of ooze" bears striking similarities, for my delight). It is overall sharp, dark, hypnotic and unrelenting. One of those rare convincing new bands that hold proud the legacy of the biggest names. Bertrand Marchal