Green Druid - At the Maw of Ruin (2020)

Prepare ye acolytes, on this day of the lord, 4 December 2020, Green Druid will release At the Maw of Ruin on Earache Records, the follow up to their 2018 debut, Ashen Blood. What to expect? To put it simply: bone-crushing-doom. A few moments into the first track, “The Forest Dark,” I felt as if a hole had opened up in the sky above and all manner of beast and demon had been unleased upon this world. The Earth surely risks being swallowed whole when this band plugs in.

The shortest song on At the Maw of Ruin clocks in at 8 minutes and 16 seconds, while the others range from 10-13 minutes and change. At the Maw of Ruin is cosmic-funeral-occult-doom peppered with subtle hints of folk and black metal throughout. Green Druid lays down a psychedelic groove dripping with texture and atmosphere, rife with a sense of grim cinema and dark grandeur.
The band issued this statement regarding At the Maw of Ruin: “In order to cleanse the rot from our planet, we as a species need to stop thinking so inward and have a ‘death of self.’’ The music emotes a sense of isolation from the inner spiritual, outward, to the stars beyond, eluding to an aloneness in the universe, that mankind needs to deconstruct itself to further evolve. In addition, there’s also themes of pagan imagery juxtaposed against a Lovecraftian-esque soundscape where possibly the Great Old Ones dwell, or the Sirens of Hell dance.

Musically speaking, At the Maw of Ruin is excellent doom metal, and certainly heavy, but at times it felt like I was listening to one long song comprised of six different sections. To be clear, that’s not to say I don’t recommend this album, I do. I see At the Maw of Ruin as a herald to something bigger creatively, that might be a record or two away. Check out Green Druid and spin At the Maw of Ruin in the meantime.