Right off the bat, Show of Bedlam isn't your typical type of doom (or classical doom). This is a noisy branch bred in pain, born into hardcore, and likely raised around a few crossover acts such as Earache's roster in the 90's. If we were to try finding their parents, we would probably find them somewhere between the social violence of Today Is the Day and the dark personal journey of Rollins Band. One closer comparison could be the mighty Jucifer with whom it seems that Show of Bedlam shared a split earlier.

Roont is a full-length divided into four long tracks and an interlude. It is one whole uneasy atmosphere, opening up a personal nightmare. Beyond the doom music itself, this direction is crafted by the female touch of singer and frontwoman Paulina Richards, who also participated in the brilliant Masseter alternative project. Throughout her relatively long texts, she is dragging us into an inner journey where we witness dark interpersonal situations and find a few shady characters; something also explored by other female-fronted bands such as Otep, Doll or Social Revolver. With Paulina's very specific tone of voice and variations, Roont is like a black and white vintage horror movie with a touch of purple despair.

Show of Bedlam is a four-piece band: vocal, guitar, bass and drum. The tempo of the album is relatively slow, like a heartbeat pounding in your head, alone in the dark of an empty basement, waiting for your captor. There are all sorts of noises, loops and synth effects added to the instruments mentioned above, thus offering a rich backdrop to Roont. The guitar sound is dirty and the bass - deep down the spectrum - is full of overdrive. The female vocals are saturated and textured with a deep reverb, giving them a nice ghoulish/horror movie texture.

On the cover, there is an appropriately depicted spooky abandoned wooden house, somewhere in a nameless town. On the back of the cover, we see a spiritual summoning session (likely taken from a black and white horror movie).

Roont is definitely making my year's end list as one of the most pleasant discoveries, and probably as one of Choking Hazards Records' best releases to date. - TheBlackHull

Recommended for fans of Electric Wizard and Windhand.