UMUR "Morning Star Rise" is the 3rd full-length studio album by New Zealand doom/goth metal act The House of Capricorn. The album was released through Svart Records in November 2014. It´s been some years since the release of "In the Devil's Days (2011)", but The House of Capricorn makes a welcome return with "Morning Star Rise".

The band have obviously developed their core musical direction on "Morning Star Rise" and also honed their skills in the process. The strong and quite dominant Type O Negative influence which graced "In the Devil's Days (2011)" has been toned down considerably. Actually to a point where it´s only the 9:32 minutes long closing track "Dragon of Revelations", which features that particular influence. The band´s doom metal leanings have also been toned down and while there are certainly heavy beats and riffing enough on the album so satisfy listener´s with a preference for that, it´s only "Ashlands" and the above mentioned "Dragon of Revelations" that can be labelled doom metal. The remaining part of the album is closer to the gothic/doom rock style of Babylon Whores, which means a hard edged "black leather jacket/shades" type of gothic metal style, and not the more soft eyeliner type goth metal. In other words this is pretty badass occult themed (check out song titles like "The Road to Hell is Marked" or "In the Light of Lucifer") gothic metal with an attitude. Sisters of Mercy is of course also a valid reference.

There´s a dark rock´n´roll atmosphere to the album, which is created by a generally energetic pace (except on the two doomy tracks on the album, which are both slow and epic in nature), hard rocking riffing, rock´n´roll style guitar solos, and an attitude filled vocal performance by Marko Pavlovic. It´s not that this style is completely new to The House of Capricorn, as they´ve explored it some on their first two releases, but they´ve really embraced it fully on "Morning Star Rise". The two doomy tracks, which in this respect, are the odd ones out, still fit with the overall musical concept though and they are great for the variation and flow of the album.

The band are well playing and the vocals are delivered with both passion and conviction, and they are relatively varied too, which often provides the music with an extra dimension. "Morning Star Rise" also features a strong, powerful, and organic sounding production, which suits the music well, so upon conclusion it´s quite an entertaining quality release by The House of Capricorn and definitely their most memorable album so far. A 3.5 - 4 star (75%) rating is deserved.

UMUR "Sign of the Cloven Hoof" is the debut full-length studio album by New Zealand doom metal act The House of Capricorn. The album was released through Swamps of One Tree Hill in March 2010.

The album features 13 tracks and a full playing time of 53:00 minutes, so compared to most other doom metal releases the tracks are relatively short or "normal" length (between 3 and 5 minutes) if you will. While the music certainly is brick heavy and dark, it´s not slow paced and doomy. Most of the time it´s mid-paced and features a nice heavy groove. There are a couple of hints toward stoner doom, but the music on "Sign of the Cloven Hoof" is mostly just really heavy and catchy metal. The vocals are rough but clean. The musicianship is strong and the sound production powerful and dark. The latter suits the music perfectly.

If I have to mention a minor issue it would be that while the music is catchy, the tracks are generally not that memorable. The kind of album that´s very enjoyable while it´s playing, but doesn´t stick that long in the memory. So variation between tracks and memorability are not in the high seat. I know that sounds really negative, but the truth is that "Sign of the Cloven Hoof" is still a very enjoyable release. I especially enjoy the dark atmosphere and the convincing delivery. These guys mean business! A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

UMUR "In the Devil's Days" is the 2nd full-length studio album by New Zealand doom metal act The House of Capricorn. The album was released through Swamps of the one Tree Hill in October 2011.

The band site artists like the badass doom/goth rock/metal act Babylon Whores, the ultra doomy and melancholic Type O Negative and the stoner/doom metal fathers of Black Sabbath as their main influences and that´s more than audible in the music on "In the Devil's Days". Heavy doomy riffing coupled with more groove based doom/goth rocking metal and a melancholic atmosphere. The two opening tracks "All Hail the Netherworld" and "Les Innocents" speak loud of the music style and diversity on the album. The former being a hard rocking doom metal track with a catchy chorus while the latter is an ultra doomy and very Type O Negative influenced song. The band seamlessly go from one music style to the other and make it work well within the context of the album. You´re never in doubt that it´s the same band playing.

The album is very long with it´s 72:55 minutes long playing time, and it´s an album that takes time to fully appreciate. The long playing time is necessary though as The House of Capricorn generally write rather long tracks. The shortest (excluding "Canto IV" which works like a shorter interlude) tracks are around 5 minutes long while the longest track on the album ("Horns") is a 14:04 minutes long beast of a track.

The band are well playing and the organic sound production brings out the best in the music. Paired with strong songwriting those elements make "In the Devil's Days" quite a great listen and I´d say a 3.5 - 4 star (75%) rating is deserved.

Time Signature All hail to the netherworld...

Genre: doom metal/rock

Let The House of Capricorn take you by the hand and lead you on a dark journey straight to hell on "In the Devil's Days", which is their sophomore album. The main challenge of any band is to make a second album which lives up to the expectations generated by the debut album. The House of Capricorn definitely have no problems in that respect with "In the Devil's Days", which is a brilliant, and in many ways, innovative doom metal album.

The House of Capricorn draw on a number of different influences and seamlessly combine them into their own style of doom-ladden and expressive music which has both a metal aspect and a rock aspect, which are perfectly balanced. Thus, there is something on this album for both fans of classic doom metal, gothic metal, sludge metal, traditional metal, and dark hard rock, and there are even some elements on the album that fans of depressive black metal might enjoy.

The tracks on the album vary in terms of tempo and pace, ranging from extremely heavy and doom-ladden tracks like 'Les Innocents', 'Veils' and 'Horns' over midtempo tracks to slightly uptempo tracks, but the sense of darkness and heaviness remains consistent throughout the album, which is both rich in texture, melody and expressiveness. I would argue that "In the Devil's Days" contains the same qualities that made albums like "Shades of God", "Draconian Times", "Forest of Equilibrium", "The Ethereal Mirror", "Storm Warning", "Day of Reckoning", "Bloody Kisses", and "Beyond the Crimson Horizon" the doom metal classics they are, and the dark future of The House of Capricorn definitely looks promising.

It's doomy. It's gloomy. It's The House of Capricorn's "In the Devil's Days" and it rocks. Fans of heavy music should definitely check out this massive album.