Beelzefuzz
The Righteous Bloom
Church Within Records
2016
This second effort by pretty much the same entity that had issues about the name resulting in legal proceedings and name changes back and forth as well as the occasional removal of a couple of members and their replacement by new guys, comes three years after their debut and “flips” the name and album title around. Funny shit…
Hailing from Maryland, a land mostly known for its crabs, rather than metal (just joking) and it’s deathfest, this trio now cum quartet delivers a bunch of slow burning melodic psych-heavy rockin doom flavored tunes on their “sophomore”. Dana Ortt (guitar and vocals) is aided by Bert Hall (bass) of Revelation, Greg Diener on guitar (Pale Divine) with Darin McCloskey (Pale Divine, Crowned In Earth) making a return on the drums. With three tracks “resurrected” from their 2012 demo, but produced far more elaborately.
More “spaced out” than “gloomy”, “The Righteous Bloom” is quite an enjoyable affair, with songs like the thick “Nazriff” or the viscous “The Soulless” having quite an impact with the stentorian vocal delivery of Ortt, standing out above the guitars “black waters” (pun intended). “Rat Poison Parfait” and “Eternal Waltz” are a little more attuned towards the odd, but quite enjoyable nonetheless, while things like “Nebulous” and the title track sounding more epic and decidedly heavier. “Dying on the Vine” and “Peace Mind”, from the demo, might be a bit of a bipole, but they complement each other quite nicely as they close the album handsomely.
At last a “fuzzy” album that’s melodic and not all about the mood (that it still manages to create)… “The Church Within” as a label seems to be quite a “guarantee” when it comes to “nice” heavy/psych/doom stuff, with quite a few quality releases and artists on their roster. Well worth checking out… not sure getting into litigation about, but still spark one up and float…
Hailing from Maryland, a land mostly known for its crabs, rather than metal (just joking) and it’s deathfest, this trio now cum quartet delivers a bunch of slow burning melodic psych-heavy rockin doom flavored tunes on their “sophomore”. Dana Ortt (guitar and vocals) is aided by Bert Hall (bass) of Revelation, Greg Diener on guitar (Pale Divine) with Darin McCloskey (Pale Divine, Crowned In Earth) making a return on the drums. With three tracks “resurrected” from their 2012 demo, but produced far more elaborately.
More “spaced out” than “gloomy”, “The Righteous Bloom” is quite an enjoyable affair, with songs like the thick “Nazriff” or the viscous “The Soulless” having quite an impact with the stentorian vocal delivery of Ortt, standing out above the guitars “black waters” (pun intended). “Rat Poison Parfait” and “Eternal Waltz” are a little more attuned towards the odd, but quite enjoyable nonetheless, while things like “Nebulous” and the title track sounding more epic and decidedly heavier. “Dying on the Vine” and “Peace Mind”, from the demo, might be a bit of a bipole, but they complement each other quite nicely as they close the album handsomely.
At last a “fuzzy” album that’s melodic and not all about the mood (that it still manages to create)… “The Church Within” as a label seems to be quite a “guarantee” when it comes to “nice” heavy/psych/doom stuff, with quite a few quality releases and artists on their roster. Well worth checking out… not sure getting into litigation about, but still spark one up and float…