UMUR "Conviction" is the eponymously titled debut full-length studio album by French doom metal act Conviction. The album was released through Argonauta Records in January 2021. Conviction formed in 2013 and released a demo and a couple of singles before the release of this debut album.

After the short intro track "Prologue Affliction", the album opens with "Voices of the Dead", and almost immediately it´s revealed what you can expect to hear for the duration of the album. Slow heavy drumming, heavy doomy sustained chords, solemn epic vocals, and soaring melancholic leads and harmonies. This is late 70s/early- mid-80s influenced doom metal, and artists like Saint Vitus, Pentragram, and Trouble come to mind. The band occasionally play a little faster like they do on "Curse of the Witch", but the pace is predominantly slow and doomy.

To my ears the greatest assets of the music are the lead guitar work (both the solos and the themes are incredibly well played and add a lot to the music), and the vocal parts which feature backing choirs and harmony vocals. Lead vocalist/guitarist Olivier Verron gets the job done, but he doesn´t have the most interesting voice and his delivery lacks some attitude and punch, but when he is backed by choirs/harmony vocals the vocal part of the music suddenly becomes a lot more intriguing. Not that there are many other similarities to Type O Negative here, but those layered vocal moments still made me think of the New York goth/doom masters.

"Conviction" features a heavy organic sounding production, which suits the material well, and upon conclusion it´s a good quality debut album by Conviction. It won´t revolutionize the traditional doom metal genre and it doesn´t add much new to the style, but for fans of this particular style, this still might be worth investigating. A 3 - 3.5 star (65%) rating is warranted.