DESTROYER OF LIGHT is a Doom Metal band formed in 2012 and hailing from Austin, TX . Often referred to as "The Live Music Capital of the World", Austin is a melting pot of influences, shared ideas and musical visions. DESTROYER OF LIGHT has certainly capitalized on this with their EP release "Hopeless" on Heavy Friends Records. "Hopeless" was an EP released on May 11, 2018 and is currently gaining traction in the Doom Metal circles. It's easy to see why. "Hopeless" was recorded and engineered by Chris Frankhauser and mastered by James Plotkin at Raygun Studios in Kalamazoo, Michigan in October of 2016.

I haven't been able to determine the reason for the gap between recording and release, but it's really inconsequential. This is Doom Metal performed at its finest. I really connected with DESTROYER OF LIGHT's sound. The band categorizes themselves as Doom/Rock & Roll, further describing themselves as "the theatrical flash of MERCYFUL FATE, the ominous tones of ELECTRIC WIZARD and the ferociously feral feedback of a SLEEP dirge". Yes, yes and yes. They're certainly on to something here, as their sound definitely has more substance than your standard Doom band.

For me, vocalist and guitarist Steve Colca's clean, yet nonetheless heavy vocals were really a nice surprise that are accentuated by the heavy riffs being laid down by guitarist Keegan Kjeldsen. This is all apparent from the first track of the album, "Nyx". With bassist Nick Coffman and drummer Penny Turner leading off the track. Not content to be just the bearer of the riffs, Kjeldsen dives into glorious melodic leads as Colca sings, "this place is ruled by midnight". The second song is the track, "Drowned". This song is an instant favorite and very reminiscent of BLACK SABBATH. However, unlike most Doom bands that focus on the Ozzy Osborne years, this track reminds me very much of the Ronnie James Dio fronted BLACK SABBATH song "After All (The Dead)" "Drowned" the song ends in blissful feedback that is quickly followed by a spoken piece from revered British philosopher Alan Watts from one of his lectures. I found it to be the perfect closure. "I may be like a person who has a bad habit. As a result of which, he is committing suicide, and he knows that, but can't give it up because the means of death are so sweet."

The copy I received for review only contained the two songs mentioned here, "Nyx" and "Drowned". The version available for purchase on the band's page has three different additional tracks, all of which are listed as "demo versions". I really found this to be an intriguing and enjoyable release, and in fact it is one of my favorites of the year so far.
I highly recommend it.