From Bandcamp, “This record is a small epic journey through the abysses of our civilization, accompanied by an examination of current events and embedded in a soundtrack of downfall…” EPIC DOWN is a duo from Leipzig, Germany dedicated to the sluggish grooves and lumbering riffs of sludge & doom. Founded in the pandemic turmoil of the year 2021, by Steffan and Fabian to musically express the deeply felt horror about the excesses of the established abysses of a consumerist civilization with pronounced destructive traits and a reality marked by war, disease and destruction, and to preserve it as a defining sound of this so-called turn of the times.”

“Twisted Perceptions” is the first song. It moves at a snail’s pace, as some Doom songs do, with low end fuzzy from the riffs and the reverberation of the guitar strings. The vocals, by contrast, almost have a jovial quality to them, and personally, I think the music would be better complimented with harsh vocals. “Leaf Banger” has a similar sound, although there is only so much you can do within the tight genre boundaries. You can try to go lower, and even slower, but at one point has that already been established? By biggest concern so far is that the vocals don’t bite like the music does.

“Faded Legacies” is the third song in a row that could be interchanged with the other three. There are very few distinctions, if any, between these first three songs. As the song drags on, you do feel more hopeless, but that is the only real feeling I have had so far. “Days of Oblivion” has a faster moving pace, but is still fairly slow in the scheme of things, but that is one distinction from the first three songs. “Lords of Doom” is really the first riff that breaks out a bit and explores some of the surrounding territory, which has been largely unvisited. There is a simple two note progression here and well. “Downfall of Being” features meaty bass notes and the vocals are layered with psychedelic effects…they are on to something now, but the album is nearly over.

Call it a personal preference, but I believe the cold harshness of the music needs vocals that match, or at least, compliment the sound. Normally, contrasts are some of the things I look for in an album. But not in Doom. The music has fangs, the vocals are just too palpable, and the songs sound too similar to one another.