Possibly, my favorite thing about doom is just how thick it can easily be or become at the drop of a hat because why the fuck not? It’s absolutely awesome when it’s done right and something that can really catch the ear and turn heads at a real pace. It’s something I haven’t seen in such splendor since Eremit’s debut last year, but it’s here with their latest effort that Planet of the Dead shows us their brand of heaviness is just as thick as it is catchy.

The decades-long partnership between doom and riffage is something that just can’t be tossed aside at a whim simply because it just works far too well in pretty much every instance that it’s brought forth for, and there’s no denying that it has led to countless magnificent albums across the entire spread of the style. So, for any band to bring all of that to the table certainly isn’t doing anything new by any stretch of the imagination but it is the epitome of a tried and true formula, and bands like Planet of the Dead make it work fabulously with albums like “Fear of a Dead Planet” giving us one reason after another to the credentials behind such an idea. Just the first track from this record is enough to show us that Planet of the Dead isn’t here to fuck around, and, honestly, I could happily end the review with that! The rest of the album is just as deliciously good in so many different aspects as it brings it everything that could be interesting about doom like this from the theme to the very musicianship to each individual note giving us something to latch onto without having to even think about it, and it’s the entirety of “Fear of a Dead Planet” that we’re given something that’s truly made for the modern doom fanatic. Planet of the Dead caters to every desire that the listener brings forth without a lick of hesitation and it’s with immense graciousness that this act charges forward across the dunes in such exemplary fashion that many bands strive to do with only a handful actually succeeding at doing so.

It would still take a little more for me to call this record something special or an incredible record in every right, but Planet of the Dead only just barely missed that mark here but that doesn’t take away from the sheer excellence that we’re constantly treated to for the whole of this album. Plenty of what’s poured into the confines of “Fear of a Dead Planet” are nothing to be scoffed at whatsoever, and I can’t help but feel that this is just the start of what exactly this band can bring to the table.

LISTEN to “Fear of a Dead Planet” on Bandcamp here.

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