Dolium – All My Sins (single)

Having reviewed Dolium’s recent collaboration with LiVES on the track Shame! back in May for Clean Sheets, I was delighted to be able to do the same with their brand new single ‘All My Sins’, which serves as a taster for the trio’s forthcoming new album which is due out in Spring 2027. Thanks must be extended to Paul over at Kick the Doors Down PR for making this possible. The song is notable for being their first standalone single since the 2024 reunion, with the accompanying video only recently being featured on Backseat Mafia.

A quick bit of history for those not familiar with the group, they originally formed in Sheffield around 1999/2000, while their 2004 debut single caught the ear of the late, great John Peel, RIP. The line-up currently consists of Reece Adamo (also known as Rhys Bloodjoy) – Guitar/Vocals, Ms De Vine, a Kent native on Bass/Vocals and Drummer Simon Himsworth. Not counting singles, compilation appearances, EP’s etc, they have three prior full-length albums, 2005’s Kisses Fracture, 2008’s Hellhounds on the Prowl and the previously unreleased Brother Transistor. If you pick up the 2024 The Products of Our Own Demands and Commands box set (from the brilliant Sister 9 Recordings label), you’ll get all of these, PLUS 66.6 Miles And The F-Machine, a collection of early 4-track demos & rarities spanning the years 1998 to 2003, so prior to the aforementioned debut Kisses Fracture. I love stuff like this and once my boring household items get purchased and funds allocated, then I’ll definitely be up for picking up said collection. Anyway, enough preamble, let’s dig into the track…

As a long-time fan of Doom Metal godfathers Pentagram, the title initially got my attention before realising that their track was called All Your Sins’ (from the 1985 S/T debut), as opposed to Dolium’s ‘All My Sins’. One word out, but both tracks seemingly share a thematic commonality, the difference perhaps being that one is assigning blame, while the other is taking accountability. As someone who is a fan of album art and who recognises its importance, the front cover of the single seems to represent something akin to a werewolf (I’m happy to stand corrected if need be), suggestive of the band’s interest in all things dark and Gothic. Musically this is exactly what you get, scuzzy Noise-Rock with some strong undercurrents of Post-Punk and Goth Rock cleverly interwoven. The Garage Rock revival was absolutely underwhelming, commercially pedestrian and utterly uninteresting; bands such as The White Stripes and The Hives were everywhere. Well luckily for us while Dolium may have a bit of that stripped down punch to their sound, they are a lot more interesting, experimental and evil sounding, silly matching uniforms not included, fortunately. The whole thing breezes through in just over two minutes and rocks like a bastard to put it bluntly. How they manage to combine the sleaze of Pussy Galore, the sexy swagger of The Cramps with the discordance of The Jesus Lizard while still retaining a completely original sound is beyond me, but they do and effortlessly at that. It's an extraordinary feat and if I drank alcohol I’d be raising a glass or two of red wine in salutation (a fitting choice of beverage I would think).

There you have it, short but sweet. Therefore if you were totally disillusioned and despairing about the state of the current British underground music scene, especially since Oasis have sadly chosen to grace us with their presence yet again, fear not, this is the antidote to such musical mediocrity.