Wow. Color me surprised. Usually when I find out about a new, modern doom band that classifies themselves as psychedelic doom, I shut off. But that’s not always the case. Richmond’s Cough is just that and more though, making their new release, Ritual Abuse one of the better doom albums of 2010. Five tracks of claustrophobic, psychotic and even hallucinogenic sounds make this one of the most enjoyable 50-minutes I’ve endured in recent months.

“Mind Collapse”, at 12:08 in length might be a bit too much to bite off normally for an opener but holy shit does it deliver. I almost had to book a chiropractor after the first drop. Heavy cymbals, distortion and simplicity through well-executed riffs. Add in some bone-chilling blackened vocals and reverb and you’ve got yourself a demonically-good time. If the first 12-minutes weren’t enough, now you’ve got to endure “A Year In Suffering”. With an opening riff right out of something Earth might have composed. Well, Earth on speed. Which doesn’t amount to that much. This is where you realize that Cough means business. Another 12-minutes of madness? Sure.

Check out the rest of my review at the Mishka Bloglin!