Order of the Owl : " We Have Come to Collect Our Crown"

It is dark enough, the vocals are slathered in effects and fall closer to a whispered growl. The pace is set a more of a hefty chug bookended by a more doomy mood.  'Wolves of True Diamond Hate" has a more venomous Celtic Frost like menace to it, but despite the warbling atmosphere that is laid on thickly here it is not as focused of a song as the opener. They engage in more Electric Wizard worship than simply following the Black Sabbath blue print.  There are equal parts lumber and thunder to the more up tempo "Hell Ride".  When these guys are at their weirdest they are find their voice rather than trying to match their brawny peers pound for pound in terms of heaviness.

Yarbrough is more than a decent guitarist with jammy solos that are probably crowd pleasers in a live setting, but don't seem too over indulgent on this album. The more melodic vocals that are sung in layered harmonies are an effective switch in dynamics. The melodies drones over the big sinewy riff. I can hear touches of bands like Jesu in the murk this creates. Things get weirder as they veer off into 60's flavored psychedelic. Acoustic guitars are broken out and it begins to sound like something Charles Manson might have written back at the Ranch. This is not the best recording of acoustic guitars, but the rougher mix gives them their own personality before the drugs really begin to kick in against the ambient noises. This song ultimately hits me as more of a noisy outro, while I am proud that they have heard of Boyd Rice, I would have like to have heard a little more actual music.

The noisy final piece aside I like this album. It starts strong and has another solid moment with the more melodic "Resurrection", it's not a perfect album, but worth rounding up to an 8.5, I would like to hear them continue their journey further out into the realms of the psychonauts as the darker more psychedelic sections are where this band that features former members of Zoroaster is at the peak of their musical powers. If you like stoner tinged doom with a blend of ball and cerebral trickery.

4.9