Magic Circle : "Departed Souls"

This band is referred to as true doom, but they are more of a stoner metal thing, leaning heavily on Black Sabbath influence. I can also hear some Trouble in what they do as well. They opener is more straight up mid tempo metal. There is no pervading sense of loss , despair or darkness so it is hard to call it doom. In fact it's rather upbeat. The singer's voice is decent. He has a throaty tenor. Not as smooth as say the singer of Pallbearer. They have more of a retro thing going than Pallbearer. "I've Found My Way to Die" proves that they own copies of "Vol. 4". There is a little more of a NWOBHM chug on the verse. I like when he goes into a slightly lower singing voice. on the chorus. "Valley of the Lepers" sounds like they are finding themselves rather than relying on their influences. It's more deliberate, and gives everyone the space to shine.

His voice sounds much better on "A Day Will Dawn Without Nightmares" . Though the song itself reminds me of Jake E Lee's old band Badlands. Perhaps there is a bluesy under current. It works better than the more upbeat tempo of "Nightland" , the song's more melodic second half proves stronger. The keyboards set up the more commanding tone of "Gone Again". The vocals sound great here and it finds the band, set in it's retro stoner sound , but making the most of it. There is a slight nod toward Dio in vocals . They continue to grow more soulful as the album progresses. I can hear how they are going for more of a Deep Purple direction here with the keyboard solos.

He takes on an almost AC/DC like grit to his voice going into "Hypnotized" . It does get more melodic as the song progresses . The layers of guitar help with this. These guys were better than expected and if you are into the retro/ proto metal sound, you will dig this. I am going to round it down to a 8.5 as I don't think I will get much in the way of repeat listens to this . 20 Buck Spin is releasing this.

Magic Circle : "Journey Blind"

This Week 20 Buck Spin is releasing the sophomore outing from Boston retro rock worshippers Magic Circle. There is something raw and honest about the production. I imagine this is very much what you get live. The singer's 70's rock warble fall some where between Deep Purple era Coverdale and Lou Gramm. Ghost pulls from a similar period in time, these guys might not be as dark , but do not have the pop pretense to their music. The song's end doesn't seem to have the same focused fire the intro does despite returns to the galloping chug. In some ways this also reminds me of St. Vitus, without the drugged desperation. But they sonically have a similar proto-metal "the Damned Man" comes closer to invoking a more metallic power. Midway into the second song they hit a doomier crunch before speeding back up into a more rock n roll section.

Things begin to edge toward a more Pentagram like doom on " A Ballad For the Vultures". He singer begins to get slightly Dio like on the 'fly away " phrase. There is a brief break into a cleaner guitar tone before the go for the big rock finish. The really over dubbed sounding moment comes in the guitar solo . There drummer plays with the kinda of power needed for this style of music and brings it on home. The clean guitar that opens "Lightning Cage" have a bluesy tone that kicks blasted out of the water by the hard rocking drive of band when they bust into the verse. There are even a few old Iron Maiden guitar harmonies thrown in. This is way too up tempo to be doom. They hit one of the album's heaviest moments on this song, the vocals help with some added grit in them. The boogie the songs builds into even work and I normally find boogies to be to happy.

"Ghosts of the Southern Front" doesn't really distinguish it self to me until it slows down at the mid-way point, there are some choices of intervals in the melody to this one that remind me a little of Pallbearer. Now the message boards go crazy and call me lazy for referring to Pallbearer, but my ears seldom lie to me. The Sabbath influence rears up big time on the riff leading into "Grand Deceiver's". The production on the vocals feels a little slicker on this one , and not just because of the over-dubbed harmonies. Regardless this is one of the album more nuance vocal performances making this one of the album's better tunes as well. The closing song builds up into more of a metal direction, but I don't think it's one of the album's better songs. These guys have already shown me they can fine tune their song writing so mediocre won't do.

There are some moments on this album that are so strong I had little question in regards to rounding this one up to an 8. Is it the most original thing I have heard this year. No...but amid the heaps of influences I hear the glimmer of who they are and think they might only get better from here. If you like classic metal then this is worth your time.