Land Of Doom is sure to be a name not at all familiar to the mass populace, and even to many who proclaim Doom to be their music of choice would be resigned to a quizzical shrug at the mention of the name Land Of Doom. Hailing from the home of US Doom, Maryland, where such greats as Spirit Caravan, Earthride and Internal Void have all emerged, one thing is for certain, Land Of Doom will have been immersed in a community where Doom is not so much a musical movement but almost a religion.

So it is just as well then that Land Of Doom has delivered the goods, otherwise their recent acceptance to the Maryland Doom Club would have been short lived! This self titled EP oozes classic influences most notably Sabbath, with Russ Strahan’s riffing coming straight from Iommi’s book of how to write a great Metal riff. The addition of Mikey Phillips to the drum throne has undoubtedly given Land Of Doom and extra dimension and an aggression that drives each song in thunderous fashion.

As hard to as it is to believe but Land Of Doom has been an active band for less than a year and this EP represents only a few months work. Hey, this isn’t to say Land Of Doom don’t have some rough edges to chip away if they are to be considered the finished article, and this review is based upon only three tracks, but sound foundations have been laid with the release of ‘Land Of Doom’. Foundations if built upon the bands obvious talent for producing good Doom can be explored to include their undoubted wider influences with an end result of unquestionable merit. Living in the now however for anyone wanting to get hold of some old school US Doom of concrete heavy proportions need look no further.