HOODED MENACE

When they first appeared from the deviant swamps of Finland's metal scene, HOODED MENACE seemed a wholly underground proposition. Heavily committed to the deathly pace of traditional death/doom but equally devoted to the melodies and dynamics of the old school, guitarist Lasse Pyykkö's musical identity was familiar enough, but the progress that this band have made over the last 18 years is genuinely remarkable. The clues were there on early albums like 2010's "Never Cross The Dead" and 2012's "Effigies Of Evil", wherein the foulest of slow-motion riffing collided with the melodic sensibilities of prime IRON MAIDEN. But it wasn't until 2018's "Ossuarium Silhouettes Unhallowed" and the recruitment of vocalist Harri Kuokkanen, that HOODED MENACE outgrew their grubby roots and started making records with real crossover appeal. Not that the average mainstream metalhead is necessarily going to love "Lachrymose Monuments of Obscuration", of course, but he or she really should.

First and foremost, this is a killer heavy metal record. Yes, it is largely delivered at a funereal pace, and Kuokkanen's vocals are firmly in the feral growl category, but these songs are streamlined, fat-free and incisive, albeit with certain delicious eccentricities to balance things out. "Pale Masquerade" and "Portrait Without a Face" are sublime epics, built from the rudiments of old-school doom, but imbued with an energy that sweeps through their lengthy durations like a billowing cloud of pure magic. In particular, "Portrait…" practically creaks under the weight of all its hooks and dynamic subtleties. Similarly, "Daughters of Lingering Pain" begins as an exercise in excruciating, oppressive riffing, but soon blossoms into a refined tapestry of interwoven melodies, pulsating rhythm section asides, and classic, '80s metal pomp, with tasteful but fiery solos from Pyykkö and a strong stench of cult horror.

Fading in like a restless spirit encroaching on the petrified, "Lugubrious Dance" has more than a hint of CATHEDRAL's peerless doom anarchism in its convoluted structure. HOODED MENACE have become adept at weaving sub-strains of metal into a coherent narrative, and here they plunder the BLACK SABBATH catalogue with skill, nodding towards the opulent overkill of the "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" and "Sabotage" era, while retaining their own heavyweight forward gait and giving their own death metal credentials a careful polish in the bargain. The closing "Into Haunted Oblivion" is even more vast and undeniable: a near-10-minute macabre blowout, with an absurd amount of great riffs, sideways nods to late-'80s IRON MAIDEN, and at least two of the most disgustingly heavy riffs that Pyykkö has ever penned.

Then, of course, there is the DURAN DURAN cover. It should be utterly terrible, as hopelessly contrived cover songs tend to be, but instead it's a stroke of genius. The glossy sheen of the original is entirely chewed up and spat out, as HOODED MENACE reinvent "Save A Prayer" as more of a scowling, trumpeted threat than a moody, New Romantic ballad. Even the greatest songs can be turned into dogshit by the incautious, but just as their original material keeps transcending a paucity of expectation, so the Finns' have conjured gothic gold from an '80s classic. HOODED MENACE march on, as slowly as they like.