The fourth edition of the Under The Doom festival comes to RCA in Lisbon between December 8 and 10. A three-day affair with everything slow and heavy, the bill features some of the best doom made in Portugal as well as some rather strong names from abroad.
The first day is headlined by Process Of Guilt, whose first full-length “Renounce” has just turned ten years old and who recently have been in the studio preparing the successor to “Fæmin” (2012) and their split with Rorcal (2014). Joining them are dissonance-ridden Wells Valley who have recently released this video for “Ophanim” from their upcoming EP “The Orphic”, proto-doom meets old school rock’n’roll duo Son Of Cain whose debut “LowLife 69” can be heard here, and stoner quartet Earth Drive, authors of last year’s expansive “Planet Mantra” EP.
Things slow down considerably on the second day, starting with the blackened funeral doom of Woebegone Obscured, carrying on with the recently returned Löbo still fresh from the reissue of “Älma”. Afterwards, two entirely different yet equally morose legends take stage. First, funeral doom masters Ahab, who are set to play their classic “Call Of The Wretched Sea” in its entirety at Roadburn, will bring things to a dirge-like pace and fill our spirits with as much misery as they can muster. Though the night finishes in arguably quicker and certainly less heavy tunes, by no stretch of the imagination do they promise to be happier ones, as the headlining duties fall on behalf of gothic doom veterans Draconian.
The third day brings back an added sense of variety, starting off with the alchemical doom of A Tree Of Signs, set to premier their new singer Sofia Silva and hopefully some of the new songs they’ve been recently recording. From Belgium will come Marche Funebre with their heavily melodic death doom before things being set to be dragged down to a miserable state of affairs courtesy of Finland’s funeral doom heavyweights Shape Of Despair. The headliners, however, have little to do with doom but all to do with the general atmosphere one expects to find in Under The Doom, as Samael will return to their glorious past and perform “Ceremony Of Opposites”, one of their best and most emblematic records, in its entirety.
Tickets are available for the three days, costing 55€, and for individual nights, ranging from 10€ to 25€. More info, as well as where to purchase them can be found here.