Green Druid – At the Maw of Ruin

Chances are you have heard of Green Druid and their neat doom covers of ‘Immigrant Song’ and ‘My Sharona’. If not, make sure to check out the video link below, featuring the band performing the first cover-track mentioned, to bring you your daily dose of serotonin.

The “Will it Doom” series was born to promote the tour for their previous album “Ashen Blood”, which is definitely worth checking out. Now two years later the Denver stoners are stepping up their game with their second release, “At the Maw of Ruin”.

First of all, the cover art for this one is disgusting and I absolutely love it. It perfectly illustrates the topic of the downfall of society, in which we are about to dive in. (Great timing, guys)

The first song, ‘Forest Dark’, hits us with that crunchy riff, going lower than my self-esteem. You get sucked in with that dark cinematic atmosphere right away. We’re deep into the woods now. Also the fact that the song is exactly 11:11 long is oddly satisfying and the trippy visuals of the accompanying video are very nice.

Green Druid – Will it Doom Episode 1 Immigrant Song (click here if the video doesnt’ play)

Something that got my attention right away were the vocals. The clear vocals are very distinctive and nuanced in a way you rarely hear from this subgenre. In some places they blend with the ambience, created by the sludgy instrumentals, at the parts when the harmonies come along an extra dimension is created and when the growls kick in it’s truly something else.

Instrumentally it gets better with every track, layering and emphasising on all the right moments to create that fantastic dreading apocalyptic atmosphere. You can tell how much work was put into creating this album.

Green Druid – The Forest Dark (click here if the video doesn’t play)

‘A Throne Abandoned’ has been stuck in my head for the past couple days.  Listening to someone singing about rotting bodies with such a soft voice is so unsettling that it sticks with you. And I live for the fantastic psychedelic solo that blends so seamlessly with the build-up, so good!

Just by hearing that sweet drum intro I knew that I would end up loving ‘Desert of Fury/Ocean of Despair’, and boy was I right. Green Druid brings all they’ve got to the table in this track, especially  the first 3 minutes. With the monologue in the middle, I can clearly sense the Lovecraftian influence they mention in their bio.

The band describes their sound perfectly in three words – “Brooding. Atmospheric. Isolationist.”. Especially in the closure of the album, ‘Threads’, we really get that isolationist, post-apocalyptic thrill. Everything has already fallen apart, the self-destruction of mankind is a fact.  I really love how the outro ties everything together. It feels like slowly panning out from the hopeless picture they have been painting for the past hour and getting a good look at the full extent of it.

“At the Maw of Ruin” is definitely going in my December playlist, keeping the gloom of 2020 until the end, but in a good way. I highly recommend checking this album out!

Tracklist:

1. The Forest Dark
2. End of Men
3. Haunted Memories
4. A Throne Abandoned
5. Desert of Fury/Ocean of Despair
6. Threads