Release date: October 3, 2025
Origin: Joensuu and Helsinki, Finland
Personnel: Harri Kuokkanen-vox, Lasse Pyykko-guitar/bass/keys, Pekka Koselo-drums
Yeah, man. I had to look up those big words as well to figure out what the hell the title meant. Hooded Menace is a death/doom metal band out of Finland. Their musical sound is very much in line with the Candlemass/Cathedral/Paradise Lost euro-doom scene more than the Scandinavian death metal sound. Overall, very slow and melodic sound with death vocals. A weird note on this one was the choice of covering Duran Duran’s “Save a Prayer” and turning it into a doom song. And it works surprisingly well. This album was on my constant rotation list since it came out.
4.5 flip flops out of 5
The list so far:
12. Hooded Menace-Lachrymose Monuments of Obscuration
13. Byzantine-Harbingers
14. Wretched-Decay
15. Green Carnation-A Dark Poem, Part I: The Shores of Melancholia
16. Scorpion Child-I Saw the End As It Passed Right Through Me
17. Benediction-Ravage of Empires
18. Testament-Para Bellum
19. In Mourning-The Immortal
20. Allegaeon-The Ossuary Lens
DISPATCHES FROM THE VOID 