Released: 2013, R.I.P. Records
Reviewer: Metal-Rules.com UK Team
A new face in a genre that always sounds as old as the hills’ grandmother, Indiana’s-Stone Magnum prove that doom is very much not a race. Like a hulking turtle that can only passively watch its more lithe metal companions rush off ahead, ‘From Time... To Eternity’s’ nine-minutes almost seems that it will be too great a distance for those leaden riffs. But of course we all know slow and steady will take the prize, or something like that, and Stone Magnum prove they can write a long-winder.
In fact as a whole From Time... To Eternity isn’t a fast food album that you grab when you want something ‘quick’ - it’s not got that immediacy being more of a musical slow burning flame licking away in the background. But you’ll definitely feel fuller for longer.
As with just about everyone who has ever tried to get into doom’s bed, it’s obvious Stone Magnum bum a bit of Black Sabbath. But take Ozzy mostly out of the equation, and replace him with a voice that could be Bruce Dickinson if he tried out doom, but is actually new mic-man Nick Hernandez. Clearly his voice is a good fit, capable of keeping up when the band break into a trot as on ‘Uncontained’, and when they fall back into slow melody without sounding like someone got the slow-mo button stuck.
Musically From Time... To Eternity gives epic doom an extra dose of the morose with the one hand and a rock-n-roll slap round the face with the other. Often within the same song as ‘Lonely God’ with its fuzzy groove demonstrates. It’s a feeling continued on ‘In Tongues They Whisper’ and then ‘By An Omen I Went’ pretty much crosses the line into Trouble-like metal. Whatever, it all sounds good.
The more you listen to From Time... To Eternity the more solid it seems, the more Nick’s vocals sound like you’ve been listening to them for years - essentially it gets more real, which is more unusual then you might think. Particularly when this is only their second album. Perhaps for Stone Magnum doom isn’t such a long game after all, because somewhere along the way they jumped up near the front-runners.
Review by Kirsty Birkett-Stubbs