Hailing from Gothenburg, Sweden, CITIES OF MARS is a fuzz/doom metal band with a sci fi themed storyline running throughout.   After a single and an EP, their debut full length continues the story of  a KGB csmonaut landing on Mars in the year 1971, getting lost in an acient csonpiracy. Its an interesting storyline, especially from a doom band, a genre which often focuses on pretty much any other subject than outerspace.  It's a refreshing change of pace and, fortntuealey, the band backs it up with five great tracks of fuzzed up Doom Metal.  Their own promo kit says they are for fans of SLEEP and MASTODON.....I'd say that is pretty damn accurate.  Much like SLEEP, they have that hazy, stoned out feel layred just above the heavy riffs, which do remind me of early MASTODON, although they obviously aren't as fast or vicisous but they also include a similiar style where all band members help out on vocals.  The vocals aren't anything special, basically clean shouts, but they are effective and serve their purpose.

Unike a lot of concept albums, this one doesn't waste any time getting to the point.  The first heavy riffs of the opening track, "Doors of Dark Matter, Pt. 1 Barriers," get the doom train rolling. The riff is heavy and dense; guitarist Noren  really knows how to make a slow to mid paced riff interesting.  His use of dark,, clean melodies during the song really heighten the atmosphere. Due to their city of origin, it should come to no suprise the riffs often times contain just a smudge hint of melody, like later day CROWBAR. The fuzz part of their sound really comes thru on the guitar solos, such as the one in the second track "Envoy of Murder."  Like the sun on a foggy morning, the solos ripple through Palm's heavy bass, which runs the guantlet from melodic to full on destruction.  Around the five minute mark, he really pours on his bass attack with just pure throbs of sound that fall down upon you.  He can be suprisngly melodic in his darkness, such as the wonderful bass intro on the final track "Caverns Alive!"

"Gula,, A Bitter Embrace," is a highlight track with the slabs of doom pouring out the amps, accented by those wonderful and slight tinges of melody.  Around the minute and a half mark, the band speeds up a bit and pours on some crushing groove at just the right tempo to give some variety but not enough to keep it too removed from their Doom sound.   The rest of the song featues several sections where things get a big trippy with the fuzz but it works very well. At just five tracks, and not even 40 minutes in length, the album does feel more like an EP than a real full length but, as always, its quality not quanity.  Having everything backed up by Kuchler's constant cavlacde of drumming doesn't hurt either. This is quality doom, indeed.