The whole retro doom vibe is something that really interests me, and there are a few bands who shake up the formula just enough to make themselves stand out. Like Jex Thoth, Blood Ceremony uses a female vocalist to do the trick.
Living with the Ancients is the Canadians' second full-length, and it doesn't have anything to make it seem consciously retro. Instead, they've adopted the old school and made it their own, making the guitars sound much thicker than the old and the production much clearer. They use electric organ on many tracks, like other bands channeling the 70's, but on other tracks they've done something different. Flutes. It seems like a good idea, maybe?
The Gates of Slumber have been a highly recommended band recently, by Metallattorney as well as others. So I decided to check out this Indiana band's latest.
The Wretch finds the Indiana band playing traditional doom metal--traditional as in a tried-and-true formula, not as in "retro". It's very much in the vein of Saint Vitus and (the criminally ignored) Lord Vicar. In other words you should know what to expect: slow- to mid-paced, heavy Sabbathian riffs, verse-chorus-verse structures, clean vocals, and a solo in every song. It's certainly nothing new. But when the music is this good, it doesn't have to be.
These Swedes have not revealed their identities, and claim that they try to make ultra-accessible music in order to seduce people to Satan. If you believed their stated motive for even a second, I pity you, because with the cheesy "evil pope" outfit worn by the frontman and the Mercyful Fate-esque lyrics, it's pretty clear this is all just a show. And what a show it is. They've often been touted as Blue Öyster Cult meets Mercyful Fate, but outside of the image the MF influence is much more subtle than the obvious BÖC similarities.
"Prime Mover", the most metal track on the album, contains some very modern experiments in dissonance. But if you throw that out they sound like they could be from the 70's, old-school classic rock vocals and electric organ in tow. "Satan Prayer" is the most classic rock-sounding cut, but you'll hear it everywhere (like the opening to "Ritual"). The organ is used very cleverly, especially on "Con Clavi Con Dio" and album standout "Death Knell". There are some forays into more metallic riffs, but like BÖC they straddle the boundary between metal and rock. The guitar and bass even have a similar tone. The bass tone has been a point of contention for many. It's mixed very well and has a good sound on the surface, but its sound is not particularly rich; I would guess this was a conscious decision to sound more like an old-fashioned recording.
What makes the album work is the memorable melodies and catchy choruses in every song. And who's ever heard such catchy choruses with such disturbing lyrical content? The ballad "Elizabeth" ("Forever young, Elizabeth Bathory in the castle of your death"). The crazy-good "Ritual" (This chapel of ritual / Smells of dead human sacrifices / From the altar"). And, catchiest of all, "Stand by Him" ("It is the night of the witch / It is the night of the witch tonight / And the vengeance is hers for as long as she stands by him"). It's all part of the fun.
The Verdict: No, I don't think memorability is the be-all end-all of what makes music good (interesting is more important than catchy). And I don't believe Ghost are single-handedly bringing it back (bands like Unleashed have been doing it all along, and bands like Dawnbringer are pumping new blood into it all the time). But nobody's doing it any better than Ghost, either. Opus Eponymous is an incredible album. I give it 5 out of 5 stars.
The legendary British stoner doom band Electric Wizard just released their 7th full-length album, Black Masses.
This is easily recognizable Electric Wizard from the get-go. The production is dirty, with everything extremely distorted, and the guitars are heavy. The pace is slow. The vocals are distant and nasally, and sound as if they were recorded on a cheap tape deck with a built-in mic. The solos are psychedelic Jimi Hendrix kind of stuff. There are occasional drugged-out nonsense passages. On the downside, these riffs aren't as monstrously amazing as some of E-Wiz's older work. OK, so Black Masses is no Dopethrone. But I don't think anyone expected it to be that great. Still, it's pretty damn good.
Throw out the closer, the appropriately titled noise of "Crypt of Drugula", and you have 7 fine songs totaling over 50 minutes. You've got the mellowness of "Scorpio Curse", the somewhat druggy (but still cohesive) "Venus in Furs" or "Satyr IX", and some slightly more up-tempo (slightly) tracks like "Black Mass", "The Nightchild", or "Turn off Your Mind". The latter three stand out from the rest, because they're built on solid riffs. "The Nightchild" has an especially great psychedelic solo, and "Turn off Your Mind" has one of the catchiest choruses the band has ever written.
In other words, you can't really go wrong with an Electric Wizard album.
The Verdict: They've still got it, undoubtedly. I give Black Masses 4 out of 5 stars.
U.K. metal magazine Terrorizer named Electric Wizard's Dopethrone the greatest album of the last decade, and U.S. mag Decibel also gave it a very respectable position. I had a very hard time imagining that a stoner doom album could be that great. I had 1997's Come My Fanatics . . . and, while it was good, it wouldn't even cross my mind that they could make the best album of the decade.
So, I decided to check it out. As usual with stoner doom, it is as heavy as possible, and moves at a snail's pace. It has a crunchy kind of feel overlaid with occasional 70's style lead guitar embellishments. It steamrolls everything in its path, slowly but inevitably.
There is one interlude on the album, so it really has only 7 tracks. The shorter three (clocking in under 7 minutes) move a little faster, and serve to mix things up a little bit. They're not the reason we listen to the group, though.
The longer tracks--the 9 minute "Funeralopolis", 15 minute "Weird Tales", and the 11 minute cuts "I, the Witchfinder" and title track--are what really shine, giving the band time to really explore the excellent riffs they've created and move the songs into different territory. The weakest among these is "Weird Tales", largely because it has several minutes of BS noise at the end.
I really have only two very, very minor complaints. The vocals are a fairly generic, unskilled affair, but this is helped by the use of distortion. The other complaint is that "Dopethrone" contains about ten minutes of silence followed by an unnecessary hidden sound clip.
The Verdict: While I wouldn't have put it at the top of the list, I can't fault Terrorizer for doing so, especially since they're British (the band and the magazine). It's as close to perfect as any stoner doom album ever has been, and is heavier than anything else out there. I give it 5 out of 5 stars.
, Blood Ceremony
Living with the Ancients
is the Canadians' second full-length, and it doesn't have anything to make it seem consciously retro. Instead, they've adopted the old school and made it their own, making the guitars sound much thicker than the old and the production much clearer. They use electric organ on many tracks, like other bands channeling the 70's, but on other tracks they've done something different. Flutes. It seems like a good idea, maybe?
The Wretch
finds the Indiana band playing traditional doom metal--traditional as in a tried-and-true formula, not as in "retro". It's very much in the vein of 
. Even though much of the hype is based on a misguided idea that 
These Swedes have not revealed their identities, and claim that they try to make ultra-accessible music in order to seduce people to Satan. If you believed their stated motive for even a second, I pity you, because with the cheesy "evil pope" outfit worn by the frontman and the 
.
. But I don't think anyone expected it to be that great. Still, it's pretty damn good. 
the greatest album of the last decade, and U.S. mag Decibel also gave it a very respectable position. I had a very hard time imagining that a stoner doom album could be that great. I had 1997's 
and, while it was good, it wouldn't even cross my mind that they could make the best album of the decade.