Rooms Of Ruin - "...All Is Ended"

Rooms Of Ruin are a 4 piece, southern fried sludge metal monster from Middletown,NY. The entire 3 piece of the previously reviewed industrial metal band Cabal 34 make up the base foundation of this band. Bassist/vocalist Ken Faggio, Drummer Annie Terror and guitarist Dave Mayer are joined by lead guitarist Steve Levin to form Rooms Of Ruin and churn out 11 doom-laden dirges with their full length debut "...All Is Ended". A touch of the Cabal 34 sound is found here, mainly in the vocals of course, and Cabal 34 are known to dip some of their riffs in Mississippi swamp water, but Rooms Of Ruin is a different beast all together and is absolutely soaked in Nola sludge under a thick layer of smoky stoner riffery. "Whore Of The Winds" kicks this full length off, thick as a cinder block and rife with Down-meets-Cathedral riffs that stomp through the speakers relentlessly. "Mindspear" trudges along like a rusty wheel with it's gloomy passages and face melting guitar solo's. There's an almost "Dirt" era Alice In Chains vibe here, just with lower tuning and a more sinister vocal approach. "Path Of The Beam" kicks the pace back up a bit but keeps that down and dirty N'awlins feeling going. The riffs in this song are pure Sabbath worship and sound as if they could have been harvested from the same field that Down grew their riffs for their debut album. "A Touch Of The Strange" with it's ominous guitar licks would make Tony Iommi proud, THIS is what I think of when I say the words "Doom Metal", unforgettable riffs transition into each other very smoothly here, this song definitely has the classic vibe, nothing sounds over-thought or forced in this song or on the entire album in general. "Gods Drink Blood" is my personal fave on this disk, although I truly love the whole disk front to back, but if I were to personally showcase one song to get people into this band and album it'd be this kick ass tune. It's got the extra slow, tarry riffs you crave with every classic doom band, but there's also the more uptempo stoner pieces(more akin to the likes of Kyuss and Dio-era Black Sabbath) to help push and pull the overall mood of this dark anthem. "Language Of The Unformed", boasts an almost thrash like verse and chorus. I hear a bit more of the Cabal 34 sound here, but c'mon thats to be expected, especially in a tune such as this with is quicker, fist pumping pace. The bridges bring the pace back down with and almost death/doom feel via Mausoleum or Autopsy. "Rooms Of Ruin" brings this album to a close. An almost 7 minute epic that creeps along at a chunky, morbid pace. Tasty, straight up brutal verse and chorus passages dig their way into your brain and dont leave once you've been exposed to them. All in all what we have here is a dark, raw offering of brutally heavy, sludgy doom metal, not many doom-mongers in the local or national scene are offering up the low and slow metal onslaught like Rooms Of Ruin. Given the right push and support I dont see why Rooms Of Ruin couldnt be touring with bands like High On Fire or Sourvein and playing festivals like Stoner Hands Of Doom. Find this band on facebook at : http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rooms-Of-Ruin/213219968748214 to keep up with their show schedule and inquire how to buy a copy of their awesome debut "...All Is Ended". You can hear cuts from this disk every monday night on The Shroud at www.brutalexistenceradio.com