Damnation's Hammer
Unseen Planets, Deadly Spheres

Unseen Planets, Deadly Spheres is a good title, at least it peaks my curiosity. As does the very fine and interesting artwork, so it would seem that the second album from the British band Damnation’s Hammer could be a fascinating one. The label claims that they don’t quite fit any format but cite things like doom metal and such; I saw comparisons with other types of bands as well. It is always good with bands that don’t fit in the box, but it is often not very true when labels write that as they see a tiny little element that is slightly odd and think they are innovators or something, it is rarely so. But what about Damnation’s Hammer?

I think they fit inside many boxes, rather than thinking outside the box/boxes, they think inside many boxes like to fit as many subgenres as possible without appearing to be thinking outside any of them. Quite a feat perhaps. Doom, heavy metal, gothic, stoner, and some other things can easily be used, heavy metal gravitating towards doom metal is probably what I would say but many things fit. They don’t really sound different from much else I have heard, raspy vocals and slowish songs, not really anything musically exciting can be heard on this album and that makes the title seem a bit misleading. The sound is okay but the playing time over 54 minutes is a tad on the long side for the ten tracks we are offered.

In order to stand out and be noticed in a saturated music business you need to do something interesting in some way. I know only from my own experience that several hundred albums land in my mailbox each day, I have over 300 unread mails right now from the last two weeks and most of them are promos, so how do you chose as it is impossible to review 10-15 albums each day. I think this overpopulation is becoming more and more of a problem, as most albums I receive today feels just bland and uninteresting – like this one. This is not a bad album, it is okay in most regards but the songs are not exciting enough to grab my interest and despite the fact that I write about it, it is still not good enough to really pay attention to as the mind seems to wander away to other things rather than care about what Damnation’s Hammer has to offer – because they just offer the same old stuff not done better than anyone else.

I think no one will ever lament missing out on this album, the ones who enjoy the doomier stuff might not regret listening to it but I doubt it will be a favourite album for anyone in the world. Damnation’s Hammer seems to be just another one of those band that makes up the numbers without really contributing anything of value, it is certainly true considering this album that looks a lot more interesting than it sounds.

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