Forsaken Man EP, 2011

"Doom metal has developed into a lot of different subgenres - and they are all interesting in their own way. But sometimes going back to the roots is the way to the future, and Pilgrim definitely go back to the roots of doom metal on this two track demo/EP.

Both tracks are the essence of doom, much like Cathedral's "Forest of Equilibrium", drawing on incredibly heavy droning guitar riffage accompanied by a big fat bass and heavy trippy drum beats. Both tracks are fairly long (nine and seven minutes respectively), and the title track even has a three minutes long instrumental section in the beginning with simple, hypnotic, doom-ladden riff, while the other track "Quest" is equally heavy for the most part with the exception of a Candlemass- and Sabbath-inspired uptempo bridge.

This is heavy, dark and oppressive, like doom metal should be, and Pilgrim sound more like a slowed down version of Sabbath, St. Vitus, or Pentagram, thus having a lot in common with early Cathedral.

The production is raw and quite lo-fi and has an almost 70s garage rock feel to it, which needless to say suits the music very well, which itself is rooted in dark 70s doom rock. I think that the drums could perhaps have been more prominent, though.

I hope Pilgrim will release a full-length release very soon, because they might well be the future of doom metal.

(review originally posted on metalmusicarchives.com)"