The Doomsday Kingdom – “Never Machine EP” [Album Review]

In press for this album, Leif Edling goes to say that the songs crafted for this EP came about very organically, while being ordered to take a sabbatical from the music industry ironically enough. Recuperating from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome isn’t a picnic, especially from what you love doing. If this is his idea of therapy, then I’ll gladly take some of those sessions as well. After all, when devoting your life to build legendary outfits like Candlemass and the current Avatarium, a creative spirit can truly be a restless force.

Additional council members assisting Sir Leif in running his kingdom include co-hort Marcus Jidell from Avatarium, Narnia’s Andreas Johansson (drums), and the attitude and vocal stylings of Wolf’s Niklas Stålvind. Leading with the strengths, the title track and “The Sceptre” totally show the Sabbath reverence of course, but with strong splashes of Pentagram, Cirith Ungol and Mercyful Fate flavouring up the classic metal palette. From all accounts, “The Whispering” is closest to the original writing style of the EP, by way of a simple aged guitar. A beautiful tale to abruptly but gently round-out the swirling seedy epic narrative of the previous “Zodiac City” (Marcus’ soloing rules all over this little number). As one who has seen the decades pass and Edling’s legacy have it’s crests and troughs, it’s very cool just to hear songs conceived that pay homage to this genre we all love.

Hoping for a swift recovery to Leif is of course the main issue, but people definitely want more though. Plus the band wants to obviously take this out on the road to some extent beyond a coming Roadburn debut. With a full-length just recently announced to be also coming from Nuclear Blast in 2017, the fact that something greater can be had than this very delicious taster warms the heart. Every song on here hits with homage and fondness for old school metal and the result is brilliance. In a very difficult year, this EP can definitely inspire the fist to be raised in times of dire need. When the time is right, the warriors shall amass for the struggle if the soundtrack is provided by The Doomsday Kingdom.

Never Machine Track Listing:

01. Never Machine
02. The Sceptre
03. Zodiac City
04. The Whispering

Run Time: 26:19
Release Date: November 25, 2016

Check out the track “The Sceptre”