Disciples Of Doom is the third album from German melodic death metallers Misery Speaks. It seems like what the band has attempted to do here is pay homage to some of the doom bands that they love by blending doom and melodic death elements. Sounds like a pretty awesome idea to me, however the band has mixed results as they stray from the music that they are familiar with writing and playing.

I like the intro as it starts out a bit creepy but gets some great heavy guitar riffing started, reminding me a little bit of doom bands such as Cathedral. It gets some good energy going and makes you want to hear more. The next song, The Burning Path, starts out with the same type of groovy riffing that was in the intro. Then the growled vocals of Przemek Golomb come in. He reminds me somewhat of Jan Chris de Koeijer from Gorefest, especially in their later albums. Unfortunately the vocals do tend to get a bit buried in the mix by the guitars and heavy drumwork. Overall it's a pretty solid song even if it is something not that original or different. It creates a great heavy atmosphere and all the instruments flow together pretty nicely. There are definitely some doom influences here, you can tell these guys are trying to pay homage to bands such as Black Sabbath, Dio, and Cathedral. Maybe this is where the album title came from? The next song, End Up In Smoke, continues the same heavy, groovy atmosphere. I really enjoy the guitar playing style so far. There isn't a lot of technicality, but enough to keep me interested. A Road Less Traveled starts out with some soft electric guitar and I have the feeling it could get pretty interesting. Then the heavy riffs smash in once again. The vocals on this track are also surprisingly a bit more raw and aggressive than the past few, at least in the verse. The chorus is an excellent example of some good melodic guitar work. Both the guitar and vocals bring in some melancholy elements to the song that keep it interesting. Obsessed goes right back in with the faster riffing and groovy song structure and Przemek's growled vocals.

Black Garden starts out with some interesting southern rock-ish guitar, is that a slide I hear? We get more of the same thick drumming as well. After awhile the heavy riffs come in again with the growls of Przemek. This is the longest song on the album, coming in at over 8 minutes, and after listening to it a few times I’m not really sure why. Most of the reason it is so long is the instrumental interlude that lasts about a minute and a half, and it really is not very interesting. I was disappointed because I thought it started out as a strong song with the interesting guitar work in the beginning. It would have been far better if they kept that energy throughout the song but it just gets lost. By the time the song is over, I don't even remember how it started. After that the album pretty much continues on its road of heavy, doom inspired metal, giving you pretty much what you would expect from hearing the first track or two. However, the final song on the album, Into The Unknown, is a step up. It begins relatively unspectacularly with heavy riffs and plenty of thick double-bass drumming, like most of the other songs, but as it continues the guitar really begins to stand out, a little bit in the chorus, then comes in with some awesome melodic work in the instrumental section at the end of the song. I love hearing good guitar work and I wish that more of the excellence that is found in the last two minutes of this song could be found more throughout the album.

Disciples Of Doom is a good album if you want something groovy and heavy to headbang to, but ultimately it does not leave me with any lasting impression. After listening to the whole album in one sitting I get a sense that it's a pretty good album overall, but I would be hard pressed to tell you the names of more than a couple songs and I definitely can't remember much of the music. After 3-4 listens it sinks in a little more, but the music just is not varied enough to really stick. I have not heard any of this band's earlier work, but apparently they have a distinct Swedish-influenced sound on their previous couple albums, so perhaps that it why they sound somewhat out of their element on this album. I have to give them credit for trying something different, but in the end I think they just do not know where to go with this doom sound. So if you want some decent, groovy, doom influenced melodic death metal, check these guys out, but don't expect to be blown away.