With The Dead
With the Dead
Rise Above Records
2015
Probably a bit unhappy with how Ghost seemed to be stealing the limelight from all other doom/gloom and occult bands, Lee Dorrian, the crazy dude behind Cathedral and Rise Above records, grabs his censer, a couple of Ex-Electric Wizard dudes, (which is a little funny as since the band was on Dorrian’s label quite a bit of shit slinging has occurred, between the two parties) and proceeds to pay his dues to doom, gloom, sludge and shittiness.
Try to imagine a mix between the more urban moments of Cathedral and well, Electric Wizard and you get a pretty good idea, what this eponymous albums is all about; big, phat riffs, a drowned out sound that seems to try and swallow you whole, you get the picture… and there’s no two ways about it, you’re either gonna love this, or hate it with a passion.
Opener, “Crown of Burning Stars” introduced by a heavy riff, sludges on way too much to be to my liking, but thankfully “The Cross” manages to show off a much more identifiable set of jigsaw riffs and even if it doesn’t lose an iota from its jam nature or inherent heaviness, it sounds a lot better.
“Nephthys” glorifies the plant and takes the example of the “cross” into a fuzzy, smokey domain… gotta love it.
There’s something quite sardonic and almost epic about the sound-trak like “Living with the Dead”... and while “I Am the Virus” delves itself in molasses like, sticky, visceral and viscous riffs, it’s sludginess doesn’t drag it down, as Dorian sing as if an ocean is above his chest, from the very “depths”…
Last but not least, “Screams From My Own Grave” just rips the whole concept, taking it to the outer limits, slow, almost amorphous and heavy as hell…
I have to give it to these guys that they manage to sound this “chtonic” and heavy, without becoming a self-parody or really unlistenable, so if you enjoy this type of thing, grab a wookah and melt the #$#$# away…
Try to imagine a mix between the more urban moments of Cathedral and well, Electric Wizard and you get a pretty good idea, what this eponymous albums is all about; big, phat riffs, a drowned out sound that seems to try and swallow you whole, you get the picture… and there’s no two ways about it, you’re either gonna love this, or hate it with a passion.
Opener, “Crown of Burning Stars” introduced by a heavy riff, sludges on way too much to be to my liking, but thankfully “The Cross” manages to show off a much more identifiable set of jigsaw riffs and even if it doesn’t lose an iota from its jam nature or inherent heaviness, it sounds a lot better.
“Nephthys” glorifies the plant and takes the example of the “cross” into a fuzzy, smokey domain… gotta love it.
There’s something quite sardonic and almost epic about the sound-trak like “Living with the Dead”... and while “I Am the Virus” delves itself in molasses like, sticky, visceral and viscous riffs, it’s sludginess doesn’t drag it down, as Dorian sing as if an ocean is above his chest, from the very “depths”…
Last but not least, “Screams From My Own Grave” just rips the whole concept, taking it to the outer limits, slow, almost amorphous and heavy as hell…
I have to give it to these guys that they manage to sound this “chtonic” and heavy, without becoming a self-parody or really unlistenable, so if you enjoy this type of thing, grab a wookah and melt the #$#$# away…