{"id":413237,"date":"2025-11-29T16:56:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-29T16:56:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/413237\/"},"modified":"2025-11-29T16:56:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-29T16:56:10","slug":"doubtsower-the-past-melts-away-with-a-sneer-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/413237\/","title":{"rendered":"Doubtsower – The Past Melts Away with a Sneer Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"It\u2019s amazing how quickly November, and my month of doom, has flown by. It seems the constant exposure to slow-paced music has made the days move faster, not slower. For my final November doom promo, what could be more appropriate than one described as \u201cone long song funeral doom?\u201d While the Welsh doom band containing this descriptor, Doubtsower<\/strong>, is new to me, the man behind the project, Matt Strangis, has three previous releases dating back to 2021. Although most of these earlier albums cross the one-hour mark, none of the songs run longer than fifteen minutes , so this is new territory for Doubtsower<\/strong>. Strangis describes his own songwriting process as \u201cpunk DIY,\u201d and he does much of his recording at home, with some mastering help from Greg Chandler of Esoteric<\/strong><\/a>. For insomniacs, one long funeral doom song sounds like the perfect cure, but be careful, this doesn\u2019t backfire and instead keeps you hooked and wide awake.<\/p>\n

While the premise of a 48-minute funeral doom song brings to mind other ambitious projects from Bell Witch<\/strong><\/a> and Oak<\/strong><\/a>, Doubtsower<\/strong>\u2019s The Past Melts Away with a Sneer turns out to be one weird beast. Doubtsower<\/strong> isn\u2019t exactly a funeral doom band, but an experimental doom band. Strangis keeps his one song\u2019s tempo slow\u2014funeral doom slow\u2014yet it has much more in common with the avant-garde music of John Cage<\/strong> than My Dying Bride<\/strong><\/a> or Esoteric<\/strong>. It makes use of syncopated riffs that cut short and disorient listeners, as well as some unusual noises, such as static scratches and the clicking and rattling of ratchets. \u201cThe Past Melts Away with a Sneer\u201d also makes use of silences, though they\u2019re not as lengthy as \u201c4\u201933,\u201d largely as a transitional tool. This use of odd sounds, silent moments, and suspenseful repetitions of short riffs creates an unsettling mood early on, and with the mix of sludge, I couldn\u2019t help but think of experimental sludge\/horror\/doom outfit When the Deadbolt Breaks<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\ufeffThe Past Melts Away with a Sneer by Doubtsower<\/a><\/p>\n

Over the course of its 48 minutes, The Past Melts Away with a Sneer is an ever-shifting amalgamation of styles, an amorphic blob that somehow holds everything together as a cohesive whole. Sounds often shift minute-by-minute despite the glacial pacing. While the early goings have the John Cage<\/strong> thing going, at the 8-minute mark, the track breaks out into the one segment that sounds like traditional funeral doom, with plodding drum beats, crushing guitars, and a low, harsh growl. Yet just as you think this is the direction it\u2019s going, the song goes silent and then shifts into a new form. The extensive use of silence and light droning makes the sudden bursts of energy peppered throughout all the more striking. About 20 minutes in, \u201cThe Past Melts Away with a Sneer\u201d morphs into industrial dance, snapping you awake and commanding your body to move. The song morphs yet again, this time into something hopeful and poppy, with light, Weezer<\/strong>-like strums. However, even this segment doesn\u2019t last long, and somehow Strangis is able to convince us that these disparate sounds all form one coherent tune.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

It\u2019s pretty impressive how \u201cThe Past Melts Away with a Sneer\u201d is able to remain engaging for its entire run, but some moments of repetition do derail portions of the track. This is most egregious at 29 minutes as Doubtsower<\/strong> transitions into a lengthy portion of sludge\/doom. Throughout this approximately eight-minute segment, there\u2019s a consistent, repetitive riff that grows tiresome over time. Still, the song rights itself for the finale with the return of a catchy piano\/synth melody from the beginning. As this melody begins to fade into silence and lulls you into a sense of closure, the track gains a second wind and hurls forth an energetic set of industrial riffs and blast beats. There\u2019s an unpredictability that catches you off guard and keeps the record fresh.<\/p>\n

If the album I described above sounds like a nightmare, that\u2019s the whole point. It\u2019s meant to be a \u201cdisorienting descent into a nihilistic free-for-all,\u201d and Strangis succeeds in making that vision come to fruition. It may not always be easy listening, but it\u2019s rarely boring. Having spent some time with the prior Doubtsower<\/strong> records, this one stands out as Strangis\u2019s most engaging and best-written. The Past Melts Away with a Sneer has caused me to question my usually negative relationship with experimental metal. It has left me feeling disoriented, but in a good way, and it\u2019s an experience that I recommend for the curious and lovers of the weird.<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: 3.0\/5.0
DR<\/strong>: 7 | Format Reviewed<\/strong>: WAV
Label<\/strong>: Self-Release
Website<\/strong>: Bandcamp<\/a>
Releases Worldwide<\/strong>: November 28th, 2025<\/p>\n

\n\tGive in to Your Anger:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s amazing how quickly November, and my month of doom, has flown by. It seems the constant exposure…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":413238,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[1444,55679,118405,194117,66954,194118,171,194119,194120,194121,118422,194122,975,194123,175308,167221,2290,11853,118439,23673,194124,67,132,68,194125,194126,194127],"class_list":{"0":"post-413237","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-1444","9":"tag-3-0","10":"tag-avant-garde","11":"tag-bell-witch","12":"tag-doom-metal","13":"tag-doubtsower","14":"tag-entertainment","15":"tag-esoteric","16":"tag-experimental-metal","17":"tag-funeral-doom","18":"tag-industrial-metal","19":"tag-john-cage","20":"tag-music","21":"tag-my-dying-bride","22":"tag-nov25","23":"tag-oak","24":"tag-review","25":"tag-reviews","26":"tag-self-released","27":"tag-sludge-metal","28":"tag-the-past-melts-away-with-a-sneer","29":"tag-united-states","30":"tag-unitedstates","31":"tag-us","32":"tag-weezer","33":"tag-welsh-metal","34":"tag-when-the-deadbolt-breaks"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115634044977397694","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=413237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413237\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/413238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=413237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=413237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=413237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}