Hailing from the Louisiana underground comes doom maker, Sif and their latest release titled Darkstalker. This is a short, yet heavy EP with some crushing riffs and powerful production behind it. This is a textbook doom metal release and has all of the right elements to keep it fresh while still harkening back to the days of old.
Right off the bat, you know things are going to be good with any release once you hear the opening roar of the guitar on the first track Kingseeker. The rest that follows suit is a headbanging journey of some really crushing and catchy riffs and some hard hitting drums with plenty of force behind it. The instrumentation is stripped back and simplistic, letting room for the journey and the build up and transform into different riffs, changing up the pace a little bit toward the middle of the track. What I love though is the back end of this song, how it slowly devolves into noise with the guitar wailing away and transitions smoothly into the second track, Kiln, a noisy ambient track that sets its self as a brief intermission within the story being told through this album. As each song off this EP transition perfectly into one another, the noisy riff fading into the third track Darkstalker is a perfect touch as the crushing doom grooves follow soon after.
This is a stand out EP amongst the underground in my opinion. It feels fresh and new and has an incredibly powerful sound that only lends its self more to capture that doom metal sound. I personally didn’t find much of a downside do this release, and really makes me look forward to more in the future. The back catalog also still holds up, with their first album Death on Foreign Shores being a must listen as well. Would encourage any fan of doom to check Sif out.