Doomas are one of the historical Slovakian extreme doom bands, even though in seventeen years of activity their output has amounted to only three full lengths, in addition to the debut demo and an ep; in particular, the long-distance works have been released in rather lengthy periods of time, if we consider that Seven Sins dates back to 2008 and the subsequent LaMuerte to 2015. Prior to this new R’lyeh, the group founded by Peter ‘Doomas’ Beťko released the ep Portal in 2019, from which both tracks are retrieved. The sound of today’s Doomas is rough, rhythmic and well supported by the leader’s vocals, with the melodic element becoming more evident only in the final phase of the work, particularly in the beautiful closing song Consumed by the Ocean-Father! As can be understood, therefore, the band favours impact over emotionality to attract the listener, and this is done with good results that are consequent to the experience of a musician like Beťko; even the choice of dedicating the album to Lovecraftian themes, as can easily be deduced from the title, is certainly nothing new, but it must be said that stuffing an album with ritual invocations to Cthulhu while being equally credible is by no means a trivial matter. R’lyeh is a work that has the great merit of flowing smoothly and allowing itself to be listened to without too much difficulty, even if the greater quality and intensity exhibited in the final twenty minutes of the album makes one reasonably think that the Doomas have something more in their ropes than the albeit convincing death doom offered in the previous half-hour. That said, the return of the slovakian veterans is appreciable and most welcome.

2023 – Gothoom Productions