With one of the most vibrant traditional doom scenes in the country, Texas is host to a number of quality underground riffers, with bands like Orthodox Fuzz, Las Cruces, Elliott’s Keep, Mala Suerte and Wo Fat running a cross between familiar modes of stoner and doom metals while still managing to sound fresh in the process. Under the guidance of the likes of Solitude Aeturnus and at fests like the Dallas Doom Daze, Texas has been able to build a statewide scene from the ground up the old fashioned way: with heavy tunes, camaraderie and killer shows. Throwing their hat in with documentation of the latter is Dallas four-piece Kin of Ettins, whose latest excursion of epic doom storytelling is the Doomed in Dallas live EP through Red Hare Recordings.

With just four songs totaling just under 20 minutes of material, Doomed in Dallas is the kind of no-frills release that typifies the American approach to traditional doom. Taking two tracks from last year’s Tears for Lost Ages full-length (also Red Hare), the title track of this year’s Snake Den Time single and the previously-unaccounted-for closer “Echoes in the Deep,” the EP was captured to tape March 19, 2010, at the Skillman Street Bar, where that night Kin of Ettins shared the stage with Solanum, Pagan Assassin, Lotus Sutra, The Gates of Slumber, Struck by Lightning, Black Tusk, Black Cobra and Weedeater. A packed evening, to be sure, and maybe that’s why Kin of Ettins only had a 20-minute set to show off their doomly wares. In any case, they do the best with it they can, and the recording sounds crisp and definitely live, but with a decent balance of roughness and clarity.

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