A lot of the time that I find myself looking into any fresh doom act, it feels like a lot of the time it’s a volume war in order to sound the loudest or feel the largest that feels like it goes nowhere much of the time. It’s not always a detriment to the overall quality, but many seem to underestimate the potential in holding back. With their debut EP, Wasteland Coven seem to have an idea on how to accomplish that with this offering feeling much more inspired by classic doom than anything else.

Having a slower pace goes hand-in-hand with virtually any form of doom, but to keep it interesting the whole time while simultaneously showing the listener that it’s not just some contrived way to lengthen songs is a very tricky thing to nail down. It’d be a stretch to say that Wasteland Coven has already mastered it with “Ruined”, but it’s not incorrect to say they don’t have an extremely good grasp on the concept already. With just three tracks to call its own, this EP hits on practically every note that a proper album in the classic doom vein should achieve and Wasteland Coven runs with it magnificently to create a great listen that has just the right amount of heaviness, riffage, and melody that should instantly catch the fancy of anyone who even considers themselves a classic doom fan. While “Ruined” feels like it can go on a tad too long in some instances, the whole of this EP is about as good a start as a band like this could hope for as Wasteland Coven has already nailed the general sound with loads of talent to throw around, and all they have to do is really sharpen their edge to allow them to grow into something much better over time which I’ve no doubt whatsoever that they’ll be able to achieve. They already have everything needed to accomplish a really solid album of the style that they’re going for. They just have to put it all in the right place and execute accordingly.

Many bands try a style like this out of reverence for the sound, but that’s not always enough for success as you really need to know exactly what you’re working with in order to accomplish something noteworthy, and Wasteland Coven is definitely on the edge of figuring it out as we can see all throughout this EP. They’re just on the cusp of it, and if “Ruined” is anything to go off of then we’re in for a real treat from them really soon.

LISTEN to “Ruined” on Bandcamp here.

LIKE Wasteland Coven on Facebook here.