- THE SLUDGELORD; https://thesludgelord.blogspot.com/2020/01/album-review-suum-cryptomass.html?m=1&fbclid=IwAR0lxsGwVDe9CXraFqJDWaKKu_blnoobQR-1beOVivyipsms8MuJT4_nkME
SuuM hail from Rome, Italy, and are described as playing ‘traditional doom metal’.
As an ardent fan of the genre, I’ve been on the look-out for bands to fill the cavernous void left by my beloved Reverend Bizarre, who committed themselves to the earth back in 2007. 13 years on, and I was convinced that those darn Finn’s had taken the entire genre down with them. (So long, suckers, indeed!)
So when “Cryptomass” came up for review, my interest was immediately piqued with the trad-doom categorisation. Yes, the cover art looks a bit crude, but luckily, I was obliged to listen to the album, and to my absolute delight—I found traditional doom metal of the highest order!
Much of the band’s sound harks back to the Scandinavian revival of the early 2000’s, with bands like Reverend Bizarre, Spiritus Mortis, and Griftegard clearly being heavily influential, but SuuM are able to inject enough of their own ideas to prevent things from becoming clichéd. The album stays firmly rooted in the traditional doom style, yet there’s enough variety within the songs to keep things interesting throughout this fine selection of graveyard soirees. I thought the song writing on “Cryptomass” was exceedingly well done, with the band conjuring ominous atmospheres and melancholic imagery, whilst drawing a nice balance between the funeral dirge and a foot-tapping rhythm.
The vocals were a particular high point for me: harrowingly operatic, whilst at times wild and unhinged; lead vocalist, Mark Wolf, is certainly fundamental in giving this band its unique sound. The guitar tone is heavy, but maintains a certain clarity to allow for the dynamics of guitarist Painkiller’s playing to be clearly heard amongst the cacophony. The bass is prominent in the mix, with just enough distortion to make for a fabulously heavy sound, and the drum work harnesses the traditional ‘less-is-more’ approach before a thorough reverb-soaking makes for the kind of echo you would only find in the most sinister of Ceremonial Halls.
One of the album’s highlights was certainly the title track ‘Cryptomass’, which takes the listener for an 8-minute retrospective through the catacombs of doom metal past. Others include ‘Claws of Evil’, with its fabulous Sabbathian styled riffs; ‘Mass in the Catacomb’ then serves as a nod to Black Sabbath’s ‘Orchid’; and ‘Creatures of the Vault’, which boasts a gloriously triumphant outro as it soars high into the night.
Make no mistake! “Cryptomass” is one of the finest displays of traditional doom metal for many years, and I would certainly place SuuM amongst the best doom bands to have emerged in recent times. While some say doom metal may be dead… something still stirs in the heart of the Mediterranean.
- METALBITE: https://metalbite.com/album/36399/suum-cryptomass?fbclid=IwAR2pSQJ7C8dGBA4L5pBsa8MIj5ut-TYIQdHx0fk5T5DLQEAVDUe5kID0LkI
Ever wondered if you merged Candlemass with a bit of Danzig and gothic punk rock vocals what it would sound like?, here's your answer. Italian doom metal band Suum excavates a mass of bones on their 2nd full length record, Cryptomass. Wails ever catacombic anoint the 9 mysteries on this monolith of a record. Where do I even fucking begin with this album, holy cunt is this some sweaty doom metal, I don't know where this band has been but it’s a damn good thing they're still active. Set for a Valentine's Day release, Cryptomass is a love letter written in blood and a bouquet of rotten roses sent to all things doom metal.
Upon descending into the ossuary, I found with pleasure 'Cryptomass' carries all the hallmarks of what a traditional doom metal song should sound like. Both heavyyyy! and eerie guitar power chords, slow booming drums, epic vocals that cape the loud instrumentation and above all, that mysterious sensation we look for when this sweet music plays. Without a doubt, this was the song that hooked and reeled me in, specifically the monstrous opening riff and the exclamatory fashion in which Mark Wolf delivered those caressing and catchy as hell vocals; simply could not ignore it. 'The Silence of Agony' is one haunting as fuck piece; the promotional video shot for it is on target, it absolutely fits the crawling yet pummeling pulse of the combined instruments. This is one of inscrutable beauty and nightmarish mysticism, Wolf's mix of Glen Danzig like vocal signals with that Italian accent is a symbol of refinement on this song and record.
Best track on Cryptomass goes to 'Creatures of the Vault'; my nomination for best performance had already been set as the vocalist Mark Wolf due to his howling throat, but that would soon change. The stage is lit a fire by the scorching guitar solo, a sonic explosion laid down by guitarist Antonio (Painkiller); you want to talk about squeezing invisible oranges, then prepare to guzzle a truck load of organic orange juice. I don't think your ears are ready for an intake of that much audial pleasure, try not to overdose from the stringed sorcery you're about to experience. It's the second-best solo I've heard off a record scheduled to come out in 2020, the best one goes to Worm on their song 'Apparitions of Gloom'. Thus said, I am disappointed Antonio was not given more freedom to on the album to lay down some more of those swaying solos. It's a fault I often find in doom metal generally, but one here it's more fretful this lack of guitar solos and it ticks me off because the songs are setup for such, and the production is even more supportive of it. You'll hear more on 'Burial at Night' and 'Claws of Evil'; other songs have but aren't done in the committed way as was presented on 'Creatures of the Vault' which is a disappointment. Guess you could say I'm a traditional metal head, remember those albums that had a solo on every song, it’s the soul, the identity of the music.
Joe Grave and Fed Kemper are bystanders in all this but take nothing away from their performances they execute their duties to complimenting effect. The bass is audible and follows the leads well, same goes for the drumming, its loud carries a sense of confidence and keeps a consistent pacing. However, I think they had the privilege of watching two classy musicians battle it out on the big stage that not only made their task easier but more enjoyable.
The spear of doom is aimed at 2020, the stench of old grounds arises.
Spectral Miasmas Unearthed
- SATANOWESUSMONEY: https://satanowesusmoney.blogspot.com/2020/01/suum-cryptomass.html?fbclid=IwAR240wdcaxSXdNwWZaCJ8DnxmGqnlbvPvHhalP4ulodxRhHpqWhwvUM6v8Q
Normalement, dès lors que les mots "doom" et "italien" sont présents dans la même phrase, on sait de façon presque certaine qu'il va se passer un truc ; parfois un fiasco effarant, mais bien souvent un coup fumant.
Il serait un peu facile, mais non totalement fallacieux, d'entendre dans Cryptomass quelque chose des deux derniers noms à nous avoir infligé une rouste cuisante assez pour revenir promptement en mémoire, dans cette catégorie, à savoir Night Gaunt et Caronte, ce qui tombe assez bien puisque le dernier nommé nous a tout récemment infligé une déception, certes à demi attendue, en prouvant qu'il avait comme on pouvait le craindre fait le tour de son propos.
La musique de SuuM est au moins aussi obscurantiste, dévouée à l'ombre et faite pour vous environner d'une crypte (sans blague ?) oubliée du monde, douillette alcôve pour toutes les plus patientes cruautés, que celle de l'ensorcelant The Room ; à n'en pas douter elle porte dignement le programme affiché par cette pochette et ces couleurs, que l'on voit. Quant à son chanteur, s'il éveille des échos de Glen Allen Anzalone momifié, c'est carrément avec l'Angelo Bergamini du légendaire Zentral Friedhof qu'il fait le plus de connexions ; et aux deux il ne renvoie que depuis une hiératique et sévère pose enveloppée dans une cape de chiroptère : on voit si, ceci ajouté à cela, il est question d'un disque occulte, envoûtant, empreint de religiosité désespérée... et sachant hululer à la pleine Lune sa soif de sang quand à l'occasion elle se fait sentir.
Tout ce que devrait être le doom, direz vous ? C'est où l'on en revient à notre propos premier, car en vérité je vous le dis même Ice Dragon font des cheveux blancs, à entendre Cryptomass : Italians do it better.
- METAL HAMMER: http://www.metalhammer.it/recensioni/2020/02/10/suum-cryptomass/
Seconda uscita sulla lunga distanza per i capitolini Suum, fautori di un ossianico doom metal, figlio delle evocative visioni di Leif Edling (Candlemass/Krux) e Dennis Cornelius (Revelation/Oversoul). Decisamente più ortodossi rispetto ai conterranei Doomriser, la band risulta devota tout court ad un riffing pachidermico senza grandi variazioni, privilegiando così l’ascolto ai soli cultori di genere. Nella pesantezza e coerenza generale, risultano però interessanti le digressioni simil-black nel cantato del singer Mark Wolf nell’ottima ‘The Silence of Agony’. La produzione a cura Daniele Perticaroli, esalta il mood generale e rende intelligibili le distorsioni delle chitarre di Painkiller e del basso alla ‘Electric Wizard’ di Joe Grave. Anche la voce risulta ben bilanciata nel mixing e rimarca l’aura spettrale dei pezzi nonché l’abisso senza speranza dei Suum. Non c’è alcuna luce in questa musica e l’evocativa cover disegnata dallo stesso Painkiller, non fa che rimarcare la desolazione presente nell’animo dei nostri. Ci troviamo dunque ad un altro prodotto di ‘spessore’ di italian doom che consolida il valore di una scena underground sempre più viva e incurante delle mode del momento.
- METAL TEMPLE: http://www.metal-temple.com/site/catalogues/entry/reviews/cd_3/s_2/suum-cryptomass.htm?fbclid=IwAR1Hevd3RbIkgjLp9X0C5G672VZBpy9xy0cFmGZKh591RYKyDdksAkeVoLc
Earlier this month I pulled up a band wiki called Encyclopaedia Metallum https://www.metal-archives.com/ designed to list groups by country and was surprised to see a bona fide black mass of occult music covens in Italia. Coincidently, the lads of SUUM (2016) summon their haunted spectral gatherings from Rome, Italy. Proof that the divine love of Metal Temple extends to many a band, I reviewed the Italian gore hounds CARONTE a few weeks ago; they and SUUM shared a recent show this very month of January at Orion. My CARONTE review is found here CARONTE REVIEW. SUUM had a very recent change of lead throat with Misantrophil replacing Mark Wolf to stand tall before the center stage Shure. Let us have a listen, shall we?
“Cryptomass” schwings in with church bells banging, heavy reverb soaked guitar, the whole spooky nine yards - and I think “righteous!” … and that is the last time we sample that bit of sonic souse until the last song ending fadeout. Misantrophil makes up for this with his dramatic baritone and operatic delivery that invokes the SUUM majik with his singular voice. More on him later on in my review … “Creatures from the Vault” track #3 is one of my favored tunes on ‘CRYPTOMASS’ with Misantrophil throwing down, down into the dramatic realm of King Diamond style vocals– sans falsetto – featuring a final molten lead guitar outro by Painkiller. Right on¡! “Funeral Circle” grabs my attention beginning with bloody heavy doom guitar before easing up for the vocal voodoo. Track #5 “Burial at Night” is another standout track, with a surrounded-by-sludge theremin-like wail leading the way into the song’s sludgy underworld – at 7:35 minutes-seconds, maybe a bit too sludgy at times - and another ripping guitar tag by Painkiller, who dredges up a malevolent alloy of doom-metal guitar tones on this release. This cat can play, delivering arpeggiated dagger blasts of guitar when he takes a lead. I dig it. “The Failure of Creation” has a hocus-pocus grind allowing Misantrophil to plaintively plead for his soul. We get to a musical mutatis mutandis with the arrival of “Mass in the Catacomb”, namely some evocative rococo guitar and vaguely medieval latin ramblings. The last tune “Reaper Looks in Your Eyes” shows some spunk with Misantrophil sounding a bit displeased. Take that, Reaper.
Misantrophil sounds a bit like the amazing baritone of Peter Murphy of BAUHAUS, and has a bad-ass baroque vibrato with his trillos caprino and cavallino. His wild performance, reminiscent of King Diamond and Screamin Jay Hawkins, letter by letter unchains this release from a horizontal slog through Heavy-Metalandia, taking us down, down to where the howling demons of 60 beats per minute convene. I don’t know if it is the economy, the politics or the weather working the levers of discord; I don’t know if it is the proximity to His Holiness that promotes this heady anti-scene of black metal and stoner doom in Italy, home of the great LACUNA COIL and HAUNTED and about a thousand other heavy music groups. Whatever it is … it is happening Jack ! I shall drop another pin on the map for future travels and find out in due course. SUUM, your time has come … Arise ¡!
- DEAF SPARROW: https://www.deafsparrow.com/2020/02/12/suum-cryptomass-not-total-ass-italian-doom/?fbclid=IwAR3LJNun_JRGBZwDkrAMQZQLIrEyFHq47Ziqd_sxHVYB9vdV6Q-1vwPPWfo
Okay Italy, okay, there is hope, after all. In case you missed it, which I know you did, I've been ripping on Italian doom metal over the past couple years because pretty much any submission I've gotten from the country in said genre has been total ass. The primary reason is this strange tendency to focus on a much older sound that hearkens back to the days when doom was just called hard rock or something. This is often a feature of the current times, but the issue with the Italian vein of it, as I've seen, is it's rarely able to come to terms with modernity. SUUM have taken up that challenge to not be ass and defeated me with Cryptomass.
Perhaps the primary reason SUUM is so successful with their approach is that the vocals just get it. Mark Wolf has to have formal training, or if not he was born with the perfect throat for this kind of sound. His words carry like chants and lonely laments in a cathedral, which is exactly what this type of doom requires. Beyond that, Cryptomass has a slow, purposeful step. The riffs need not impress with complexity, they dwell more in remoteness, making for a surprisingly successful combination of the olden days with youthful echoes of the modern. Toss in some unpretentious solo work, and you've got some old school doom perfection that avoids the usual ass foolery that turns me off to most of it.
- ROCK PORTAL: https://www.rockportaal.nl/suum-cryptomass/
Het tweede album van de Italiaanse doom metal band Suum vult de donkere winterdagen.
Trage en loodzware riffs druipen langzaam uit de speakers vanaf de eerste tonen van het openingsnummer. Het is het titelnummer van het album, Cryptomass. De vocalen van Mark Wolf lijken van ver te komen en echoën vanuit de donkere krochten van de hel. Het geheel zorgt voor een donkere en onheilspellende sfeer.
Met negen nummers die bijna een uur vullen, zorgt Suum voor voldoende luistermateriaal. De titels geven al wat prijs over de inhoud, zo is er onder andere Creatures From The Vault, Burial At Night, Mass In The Catacomb en Claws Of Evil. Het mag duidelijk zijn dat dit geen opgewekt en vrolijk album wordt.
Gaandeweg de nummers worden de vocalen van Wolf wat dominanter en lijkt het net alsof hij degene is die een menigte moet opzwepen en moet waarschuwen tegen het naderende onheil. En ondertussen blijft gitarist Painkiller zijn loodzware riffs spelen, ondersteund door traag baswerk en stevige drumpartijen. Op het eerste gehoor lijken de nummers behoorlijk op elkaar, maar wie goed luistert hoort toch wel degelijk verschil.
Er zit genoeg variatie in het gitaarwerk, naast de lome riffs weet Painkiller er ook langere solo’s uit te persen, bijgestaan door bassist Joe Grave en drummer Fed Kemper. Met deze negen nieuwe titels heeft Suum een subliem vervolg gemaakt op het debuut Buried Into The Grave. Voor de liefhebbers van ouderwetse doom metal is dit album een absolute aanrader.
- THIRD EYE WORDPRESS: https://thirdeyecinema.wordpress.com/2020/01/17/blackest-of-the-black-darker-than-night/?fbclid=IwAR2Bzc3ppb-9fbwrjkee4dICTjHg78ZvRLrQWDYS0os9d05N3dA3w6_B43Q
Heavy, lumbering but leaning more traditional than you’d expect, this Italian doom act follows more in the footsteps of Paul Chain than anyone else, albeit with a simplistic, over-distorted vibe that manages to suggest doom/death while vaguely evoking vintage Trouble and playing more in the
same garden occupied by Crypt Sermon.
If you can even picture such a thing.
Clean, gloomily moaning vocals, grinding riffs that bring the grim, Calvinistic feel of classic death metal (particularly in its doomier variant) but a generally trad vibe…how can you not love this one?
Quite good indeed!
- RTMB: https://rtmbmusic.com/nuevos-lanzamientos/4167/summ-trae-peque%C3%B1a-muestra-doom-aplastante?fbclid=IwAR3EFZ3V_k3L3fGvVCB7kcIRUymMFixDKSwa5j2LNrc3tM8cPGT3WpHcUL8
Nada como una pequeña dosis de doom para aplastar el alma en estas fiestas, ¡y justo a tiempo! Cryptomass es el álbum de seguimiento del debut de Suum, Buried Into the Grave, y combina expertamente el espíritu de las influencias de las bandas con su propia marca única de inquietante doom italiano. Aunque más inmerso en el sonido del doom tradicional, a la banda no le falta el departamento de pesadez. También notable, las voces agregan una atmósfera muy espectral y espectral que encuentro bastante atractiva y distintiva. Así que saca el eggnog, aviva el fuego y enciende el estéreo esta temporada: ¡este álbum promete ahuyentar a Santa y a todos sus secuaces!
GHBL: https://www.gbhbl.com/album-review-suum-cryptomass-seeing-red-records/
Oomph, Suum lay out the filthiest riffs to start their new album off. The title track has all the energy of a sloth and moves as though it is stuck in thick treacle, exactly as the nastiest of doom should sound. Too much? The clean singing might go some way to lighten the load on the mind. Not much, as it’s the sound of granite blocks being dropped from height, but it is something.
That colossal start is taken even further to the depths of bone crushing heaviness with The Silence of Agony and Creatures from the Vault. The pressure from the riffs almost too much to bear but the solo in the latter that fades out the track is worth it.
Offering something a bit more disjointed but equally as bruising, Funeral Circle arrives comatose before Burial At Night layers the dirt on chokingly. Variety isn’t the spice of life here but it’s hardly a problem as Suum provide such a complete doom sound it’s hard to enjoy. That doesn’t stop the mind beginning to wander occasionally though.
Not on The Failure of Creation though. Not with a drum and guitar combo this chunky and a slight bit more urgency here and there.
A short melodic intermission (Mass in the Catacomb) is a moment to relax. Needed too as the last two tracks are some of the heaviest and noisiest on the album. Claws of Evil, droning like the buzz of flies over a fresh corpse and Reaper Looks in Your Eyes, wrapping its twisted hands around the head and squeezing as hard as possible.
It’s an experience not be forgotten.
- TWO GUYS METAL REVIEWS: http://www.twoguysmetalreviews.com/2019/12/suum-cryptomass.html?fbclid=IwAR0REs33_B5tYoxS5zTrm9WfSaQyFoDyLwk6nNE-0Hn5l3bp5WdRNAm_ySo
I'm a big fan of Seeing Red Records - they do things right. They have a strong roster of acts and seem eager to keep pushing boundaries. Their latest offering, Suum's Cryptomass due out February 14th is just north of fifty minutes of trad doom in the style of Candlemass or Trouble. With histrionics and bombast throughout, this is a fun listen and a record that continually points towards the sense of transcendence that the group are seeking to create. While it certainly has its limitations, doom fans across the world will revel in what has been put on offer here.
This is a record that touches several sides of the trad doom spectrum. A particular highlight is the medieval accented acoustic bridge 'Mass In The Catacomb'. The guitar tone throughout the album is flawless and was clearly a point of focus for the band. The main drawback I find here is that the songs have a tendency to dra and the record is honestly about fifteen minutes too long. That being said, the individual ideas are great and the musicians are clearly very talented. Watching them hone their talent as they move on though is going to be essential if they really want to take it to the next level.
Still - there is a lot to love about this record. Who wouldn't be entranced by the massive riff on 'Reaper Looks In Your Eyes' for instance? The band clearly know what they are doing and that bass tone is filthy. Cryptomass is a potent offering that continually shows Suum have more than a few tricks up their collective sleeve. Definitely a record doom fans will dork out over, I also tend to think that this is a band who have the potential to refine their music and become modern day trad metal greats.
- THE BIBLE OF METAL: https://thebibleofmetal.blogspot.com/2020/01/blast-from-dust-suun-cryptomass.html?fbclid=IwAR3VLCbsHmMR68kHdAy6am8J8rA_WJC1i73UGg9ki5O7BF6FEvU9vPYsNfs
Dopo due anni di silenzio tornano a farsi sentire i nostrani Suum con un disco nuovo nuovo che li porta decisamente più vicini ad un sound stoner abbandonando spunti melodico epici riscontrabili nel debut Tower of Oblivion, rilasciato nel 2018.
In uscita per il prossimo S. Valentino su Seeing Red Records, questa nuova epopea di nove brani, intitolata Cryptomass, propone riff uno più pesante, lento e cupo dell'altro, eccezion fatta per le più andanti Creatures from the Vault e The Failure of Creation, che danno un po' di brio all'opera, senza esagerare e snaturare il tutto.
Alla matrice candlemassiana si aggiunge un tocco di sabbathiana con riff degni dello Iommi dei bei tempi. Il songwriting è prevalentemente buono, unica pecca è l'eccessivo riverbero alla voce che alle volte la rende coperta dalla monoliticità delle pennate, rendendo le lyrics non sempre comprensibilissime, vedi il ritornello di Claws of Evil. Ciò nonostante la premessa di album scaccia-Santa Claus è più che mantenuta.
- EL COMENTA MIERDA: https://elcomentamierda.blogspot.com/2020/
Para fans de Candlemass, Memento Mori, Solitude Aeternus, Reverend Bizarre o Krux, las cartas encima de la mesa desde el primer momento con esta banda italiana y es que esto es Doom italiano, nunca hay trampa ni cartón solo clasicismo absoluto.
Suum es una banda romana creada en el 2017 que presenta su segundo trabajo que saca publicado Seeing Red Records en formato CD y limitado a 200 copias el catorce de febrero, el día de San Valentín, buena ironía.
El guitarrista de esta banda se apoda Painkiller y hará honor a su nombre pues estos Suum aparte de toda la lentitud y fuzz clásico de este género musical también diría que tienen un extra de fuerza que les otorga su guitarrista como en Cryptomass un tema de ocho donde la distorsión tiene ese extra de fuerza de la que os hablaba pero me quiero quedar del pasaje acústico acompañado de la distorsión en la guitarra eléctrica que le da un aire funesto y de una épica muy oscura al tema.
The Silence of Agony arranca con total lentitud de nuevo todo el protagonismo para el guitarra y de nuevo se genera un medio tiempo que tiene tintes oscuros y por momentos, a parte de las bandas citadas me recuerda a los Cathedral, tienen esa lentitud y esa oscuridad típica de las bandas italianas que desde los setenta llevan influenciadas por la magia negra de Paul Chain.
Creatures from the Vault presenta un trabajo más dinámico en la base rítmica con un ritmo más intrépido y dinámico con más velocidad y el clásico riff que equivaldría para cualquier género musical. El tema o uno de los temas más lentos de todo el trabajo es Funeral Circle y también el tema que presenta una mayor distorsión pero Suum es una banda de sonido muy clásico y con los riesgos justos, eso sí, en el Doom lo importante es sonar oscuro y con maldad y ellos lo logran.
Intentan recrear una atmósfera completamente diferente para el tema Burial at Night que por momentos se adueña del tema y recrea los mejores momentos del tema porque es como si hubiera un pequeño ventanuco donde se filtra una débil luz pero luz al fin y al cabo, y esa luz nos proporciona el solo de guitarra melódico del álbum que tiene mucho sentimiento.
The Failure of Creation es un corte donde la banda apuesta por un ritmo de batería desde el inicio acompañado por un bajo en distorsión, el resto de elementos se van sumando a la fiesta y pasa de la influencia del Stoner en los primeros compases a un Doom muy pesado con elementos del Thrash en el trabajo de la base rítmica.
Mass in the Catacomb es el típico tema instrumental acústico emulando a Black Sabbath, antes de escuchar el disco ya sabría que habría un tema de estos y quizás ese es el lado negativo del trabajo que le falta riesgo. Claws of Evil muy en la línea del Doom italiano de toda la vida y finalizamos con Reaper Looks in your eyes que hace del ritmo lento del Doom su esencia y en esto es clave el trabajo de la batería y el bajo que son los que llevan todo el peso del tema. Buen álbum, clásico Doom italiano de toda la vida.
