From Bandcamp, "Blending early UK Doom influences with a nod to stateside Doom, SOLEMN LAMENT is a bicoastal collaboration of vocalist Phil Swanson, drummer Justin DeTore, bassist Drew Wardlaw, Lead guitarist Adam Jacino, and rhythm guitarist Eric Wenstrom. The album contains four songs. "Intro" is the first, and it's short that effectively this is a three-track EP. Solemn clean guitar notes mark its passing, with a few brighter peaks. "Celeste" is a ten-minute beast. As expected, it moves slowly, like a beast lumbering across a break in the arctic. He moves for seems like weeks, even months to get to his destination, seemingly immune to the frigid winds blowing around him. The vocals are pretty monotone, and you can't expect a whole lot more from the genre.

"Old Crow" is a shorter song; five-minutes is a very fast affair in the Doom Rock/Metal genre. Unfortunately, it really doesn't impress me much. Make the riffs fatter, throw in some vocal variation, and/or feature the bassist more prominently...any of these things would help the song get off the ground. As it is, it mires in the muck. "Stricken" closes the album. I like the clean tones here...it creates a real and honest sense of what the subject feels like, and what he is going through. "Stricken" means "seriously affected by an undesirable condition or unpleasant feeling." That is exactly what comes through in this closer.

The album cover is really cool. Unfortunately, it's the best part of the package. Four songs are normally something I complain about, but in this case, it's just enough. Adding any more would just prolong the monotony of the album. I hope they can diversify their offerings for the next release, because there is potential here, it's just not actualized.