PREMIERE: Take a Look into Doom's Dark Past with Warhorse's "Doom's Bride"

Photo courtesy of Warhorse

Traditionally speaking, a war horse is a massive beast, capable of carrying its master into the heat of battle and fending off attackers by virtue of its imposing bulk and deadly flying hooves. From the plains of Asia to medieval bloodbaths up to the far-flung atrocities of WWII, war horses' lives were stained by blood, narrated by screams, and generally—mercifully—short. Given their brutal history, it's not exactly difficult to see why they'd serve as the namesake for not one, but at least five different heavy metal bands (including one that metamorphosed into the more readily recognized stoner doom unit The Obsessed).

The Massachusetts Warhorse was as short-lived as its namesake, but left a far greater impact than any of those poor nags ever did. The scarcity of their recordings rendered them cult classics, and their syrupy, downtuned grooves more than stand the test of time—a fact that Southern Lord picked up on when they decided to reissue Warhorse's seminal 2001 full-length, As Heaven Turns To Ash, and final I Am Dying 7" together in one monumentally heavy package.

Look for that soon on digital and vinyl, and listen to the somber "Doom's Bride" below.

As Heaven Turns To Ash and I Am Dying are out 2/25 via Southern Lord.

Kim Kelly was born too late and is drowning her sorrows on Twitter - @grimkim