Also seen on Heavy Planet: Prior to listening to Cough's new album, Ritual Abuse, I was very excited. Every review of this album was amazing, heralding one of the best doom record of the year. How this was on par with the greatness of Electric Wizard (which is a band I've never gotten into before, so I guess that should have been my clue). Needless to say I looked forward to listening to these tracks - enough to do so completely sober (as I'd begun the disc a couple times drunk and decide I wanted to be in z clear state of mind) - and was confused by the end.
The good about Ritual Abuse, and it's a big good, is the music. This is doom metal; the drudging guitars the slow and heavy drum beats the essence of death and despair, this is all I love about the genre. It really is a throw back to the classic days of doom. Tag all the necessary comparisons musically to Pentagram, Sabbath, and the rest, and it all fits like a glove.