Doomed, created by Pierre Laube five years ago, has become in a short time one of the most interesting names in the European death doom scene. This has not only been due to the prolificacy of the German musician who, on average, has published one full length per year, but also and above all to the quality of his works, which are combined with an undoubted sound peculiarity. With Anna, Doomed (technically a solo project of Laube, who, however, resorts to several collaborations at the time of the recording of the records, making it a real band during live performances) reach the peak of their discography, thanks to a bitter and intense songwriting and an execution of great thickness enhanced by a perfect production. The album revolves around a rather crude concept that, describing the story of Anna, a little girl who saw her father die during the Nazi deportation, examines the drama of war seen and suffered by children, a topic well present, unfortunately, in every phase of human history. The sound is affected at the level of mood of the treated themes, even if the melodic moments persist equally and all in all not less than in the past: the fact is that these are perfectly incorporated within a dramatic mood, at times so violent to return equal to the anger and pain that the topic can evoke. The fulcrum of Anna is found in its central part, when two tracks as magnificent as different as The Weeping Trees and Withering Lives outline a clear image of the compositional skills of Pierre Laube: If in the first track the alienating effect is caused by a vocal interweaving between our and his sister-in-law Daniela, between dissonances and melodic openings (here the guitar solo is magnificent), the second is a real blow that is realized through a square rhythm, heavy riffs and the scream of guest Kris Clayton (Camel Of Doom) that multiplies the level of savagery. As said in the past, the death doom of Doomed is often unbalanced on the first component at the sonic level, but the second one is completely soaked in the mood of a sound compressed by a dull livor that well expresses the artist’s reaction to the events described. Doomed is by now a quality brand within the scene, as well as the typical green background cover that distinguishes each of its releases, now become a fixed appointment able to remind us that doom can also be a form of decisive reaction against the ugliness that surrounds us, and not only a melancholic and desperate turning back on oneself that is, instead, the leitmotif of its more melodic fringe. Both options, however, are absolutely welcome, indeed, I would say more, necessary.

2016 – Solitude Productions