The rise of new doom
Denver, Colorado—a city with a rich history of metal—gives birth to yet another remarkable band indicative of the Mile High scene. Brothers Shaun and Mike Goodwin, along with drummer Graham Wesselhoff, come together to form doom metal outfit The Munsens, and they’ve just delivered on their third release, Unhanded.
The Munsens greatly understand evolution and elevation. While they never abandon their plague-bearing sound, they’re capable of giving each album a distinct identity. These three men possess the kind of healthy growth every band should aspire for. Five track, 40-minute record Unhanded perfectly showcases the band’s upward projection and fast-moving momentum.
“Dirge (For Those to Come),” the album’s opening, boasts a nearly eleven-minute long run-time. Acting as an intro track, the song starts methodically slow but doesn’t tire as many intros can. Instead, we’re greeted with a guitar riff as alluring as a siren. Soon, Goodwin’s vitriol vocals come in to remind us what genre we’re listening to. It’s clear just in one song that The Munsens know how to compose and who they’re composing for.
The following track, “Pitiful,” illustrates how repetitive instruments can get. It takes close to half the song’s run time to receive vocals. While this metal trope may not be suitable for active listening, it’s perfect for a vibing playlist. The track “Bleeding From The Ears” could also suffer from the same critique, but this isn’t a case of subpar writing. On the contrary, both songs are expertly written and their listenability weighs heavily on personal preference.
Nearly every song on this record leans into a sedated melody kind of feel. It seems that’s because the band was saving up all their rage for the title track. “Unhanded” is loud, pained and brilliant. The song captures their core attributes and atmosphere—a blurring apocalypse void of romantic hope.
Closing track “River of Errors” unintentionally acts as a parallel to the record’s first track. It is perfumed with sorrow and ash, singing a tune so pleasingly tragic. From beginning to end, Unhanded creates vivid visuals of red skies and barren wastelands. The Munsens hit the doom metal mark without coming off as a broken record player. To find harmony between the past and present is a rare treat in the modern day scene.
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