The croon of their singer is mix of Gibby Haynes and Danzig. I guess Gibby is a little more of the drug crazed desperation. They are very deliberate rock n roll doom. They lumber around with a drone, that is not without a ballsy drive.The fuzzed out guitars create some very dense layers that might remind some of Electric Wizard. They continue to rock out with "Elixir Rubeus" , but I am not as engaged for this song. They seem to be more into jamming around with heavy sounds more than really hooking you into their songs, if you are hooked in then it's due to the hypnotic throb rather than anything they have done to invite you into their world. This is not to say there is not some emotional investment into their music, and I am sure when they are playing it they are really into it, something intangible is just not connecting. The singer's melodies might be better served doing their own thing like they do on "Rites of High Theurgy" rather than just being bellowed out over the rumble of riffs with nothing to stick to.
They let there songs hover around the nine minute mark. The more rock n roll like melodies the singer chooses have potential as the band as a whole does, there is a 90's post- grunge thing buried under all this wannabe occult murk. Perhaps that just comes from living in Italy, everything has to have a touch of horror movie like occult. I'll give this album a 7.5, I do like this kind of retro doom, though the last song is a little too uptempo to be doom and overall I don't get the darker more mournful vibe that I feel doom should have from them. They do create a psychedelic churning that is heavy in it's own way. These guys have created a familiar yet original sound they just need to fine tune to nuances of song writing amid the density. It was a fun listen for me I just don't feel compelled to give it many more spins.
Van Records releases this July 22nd.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrAkSetkxZw&feature=youtu.be
No comments:
Post a Comment