"Dark Clouds" Gather Above Blacklab's Witchy Doom (Video Premiere)

There's something haunting Blacklab's doom metal. The Japanese duo boils the genre down to its most essential implements with unhinged zeal, and their alchemy hints at an unseen malevolence. Their latest album In a Bizarre Dream demonstrates the band's impressively varied command of doom metal, dragging it through swamps, dungeons, and dreamlands alike. Howled vocals and swaggering drums provide fuel for finely-crafted riffs that fold in everything from bluesy stomps to thrash-leaning shredding–and there's a leering presence felt through the crackling noise that fills the gaps between power chords.

Last year, the duo also brought their dark energy to London for Desertfest 2023. While they were in town, they stopped at London's Reservoir Studio to record a series of live session videos–check out "Dark Clouds" below.

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"Dark Clouds" is one of the faster tracks on the album, pitting fuzzy, chunky riffs against a gauntlet of d-beats. It highlights Blacklab's genre-spanning chops as well as their ability to unify it all under a banner of paranormal heaviness: whether one feebly tries to label this as, say, doomy punk or stoner-ified black-thrash, it arrives with an unmistakably sinister bent.

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In a Bizarre Dream released August 19th, 2022 via New Heavy Sounds.

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