Samothrace

Doom metal outfit Samothrace (who hail from Seattle, WA) are named after a Greek island, a spit of land in the Aegean sea that was home to the Sanctuary of the Great Gods. This site of innumerable Hellenic and pre-Hellenic rituals is also where Winged Victory, one of the most famous Greek statues (the headless, armless figure of a woman with huge, swan-like wings spread in victory). Like the site for which they are named, Samothrace evoke a sense of decaying glory on their second full-length, Reverence to Stone. Composed of only two tracks, the music is melancholic, lurching with incredible dignity, an almost stately ponderousness. This is an album that knows its weight and heft, and even during its most shuddering and vulnerable moments retains its composure. The weirder, spiralling strangeness of "A Horse of Our Own" lifts this record above the typical funeral dirge and into the realm of dreamscape. This isn't doom that merely wallows, but doom that explores with a grave, miserable wonder.