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Each time I spin this EP, I find myself in spellbound headbanging ecstasy. After recently touring the East Coast, Let the Night Roar are making a name for themselves as a key force in the ultra-heavy doom underground. They deserve it, too. Sounding like a bass-heavy hybrid of Lair of the Minotaur and Celtic Frost, it doesn't need saying that Vol. 2 is heavy. You can hear the bass strings rattling on the fretboard throughout the entire EP, and that just makes it that much more uncompromising and impactful. These songs iconoclastically soar along, eschewing those who wish to influence it.

What's so incredible about Vol 2 is that it's not as if Let the Night Roar are changing anything, yet they sound so unique. As said earlier, they sound closest to Lair of the Minotaur, but these guys are more aggressive and compacted. The songs don't stray into any strange territory; they have a series of riffs, a chorus and some verses. It's not as if they strictly confine themselves to this formula, but it's not anything incredibly unusual. Sometimes, a particularly sludgy or powerful riff continues for long periods of time, creating a droning and intentionally exhausting effect. Yet, it's this simplicity that makes Let the Night Roar so forceful. The songs come at you, pummel you, and usually are gone before you know it... It's their blunt, unyielding nature that makes them so powerful.

Adding to the intensity of this EP is the band's strong influence from Jim Jones. The name "Let the Night Roar" derives from a famous speech of his. Expertly crafting some of their songs with samples from his speeches, they create an unnerving but undeniably awesome atmosphere. Influences from the macabre and morbid can be kitschy and immature, but they aren't here. Another dimension is added to the music; it feeds the sick obsession all metalheads have with the violent and twisted.

This is doom at its most heavy. Vol. 2 is obdurate is unflinching. Recommended for all doomsters.