Being a thrash enthusiast, I’ve always struggled to get into
doom. It takes a very special release for me to really enjoy doom, and aside
from Black Sabbath, those albums are few and far between. As you may have
already guessed, Stone Magnum’s “From Time…To Eternity” is most definitely an
impressive doom album. The cover art will draw you in, but the music will keep you spinning this record.
The album kicks off with the title track, which is one of
the songs that are truly slow throughout a portion of the track (“Uncontained” being the main
other one). Immediately the guitar tone will jump out as being eternally heavy.
This is a prime example of how slow music can be far heavier than faster songs.
This track gives room for vocalist Nick Hernandez to shine. He has a very
classic traditional doom sound, not unlike you would expect from bands like
Candlemass. The slow, churning riffs also give the bass room to breathe. While
this opener is undoubtedly a great track, the first highlight is the next song,
“Lonely God”. The only way to describe the main riff of this song is rocking. It
is very simple, but much like Sabbath’s riffs, very effective. “Lonely God”
also features the best guitar solo of the record, and is probably my favourite
song overall (though it is challenged by the Iommi-like groove in the first
solo on “In The Garden of Beasts”). The other major highlight on “From Time…To
Eternity” is “By An Omen I Went”. I’ve already mentioned Sabbath a couple of
times, but this song truly captures the essence of those classic Sabbath riffs
(particularly from the “Vol. 4” era). There’s a fantastic groove on this track,
and all of the elements click well.
Perhaps what surprised me most about this album (and should
be attributed to my lack of doom knowledge) is how uptempo it could get at
times. As mentioned earlier, “Uncontained” is one of the slowest songs on the
album, but it eventually breaks out into a faster pace. The speed certainly
doesn’t rival any thrash bands, but it doesn’t need to. It provides contrast to
the sluggish pace of the remainder of the song. “Uncontained” is not the only
track to deliver faster moments, but it is probably the best, as by the end of
the song, it truly feels “Uncontained”. Interestingly, “In The Garden of Beasts”
takes a more traditional approach to speed, as it sometimes features tremolo
picking and what sounds like double bass drumming. Nevertheless, the song doesn't feel out of place on the record, and is an excellent closer. Overall, “From
Time…To Eternity” was a huge surprise for me. If this album can convince
someone is not a huge fan of doom metal, fans of the genre will absolutely love
it.
Written by Scott
Highlights
"Lonely God"
"By An Omen I Went"
"Uncontained
Final Rating
4.3/5 or 86%.