November is Doom- Exhuming the Tunes with Trouble's "Psalm 9"

 

Here we start our journey through this Chicago band's discography. Some of the earlier albums I have not delved into as fully as I once did, when I was obsessed with their fourth album. The first thing that really sets them apart is the voice of Eric Wagner. There is an unhinged warble and piercing touch of rasp that gives him more of an edge than the bulk of his peers during this time. When this album was released in 1084 it was clearly ahead of its time.  The opening track balances brooding and bombast with the tone of its time as the pulse. You can hear hints of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal in their sound almost as muhc as you can hear the looming influence of Sabbath in the lurching riffs. 

It's easy to hear how this album could be considered the first proper doom metal album as when Sabbath came out they were never considered doom, and I do not think these guys were trying to do anything but make a heavy metal album, which, when Sabbath came out, the concept of heavy metal did not exsist. "Assassin" is more ofa a straight-up metal song. "Victim of the Insane" is darker and more rooted in doom as we know it today. It took a couple listens for it to click with me.  "Revelation" works off the kind of groove they are now known for. It clicks the first time you hear it. 

"Bastards Will Pay"  finds the chug gaining momentum. It is your typical heavy metal anthem. Somewhere amid the chug of "the Fall of Lucifer," I fell asleep so I had to back into the album again. Riff-wise, it plays off the tropes of the time, though even then it's non-conforming metal when we consider where metal was in 1984. "Endtimes" feels like a variant riff of the ones already used on this album as it twists around. Overall, the song works well in terms of dynamic ebb and flow , but not sure they needed an instrumental. 

The intro to the title track feels like Spinal Tap, but the song itself is great once you dig into the meat of it. The cover of the Cream song they tackle works well enough. Not a huge Cream fan, but I do appreciate them. I will give this album a 9.5. While it's important to the genre and ahead of its time, it is being measured against when the band hit its peak, but it's a great debut that is a must for all doom fans.

7.7

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