From California comes this highly intriguing act with a very cool name and an even cooler sound. On their sophomore release for Neurot Recordings, titled Old World New Wave, the band mixes crushing Black Sabbath styled doom with majestic old school metal styles in the vein of Mercyful Fate and a haunting slice of pagan/occult mysticism punctuated by eerie female riffs. It's music that's pretty irresistible if you love heavy stuff with an ethereal quality. "Black Door" busts out of the gate with chugging riffs and those floating vocals, seguing into the haunting example of evil metal that is "The Chalice & The Blade". "Seer of Circassia" also carries that creepy vibe, while "White Hart" slows things down to a near funeral doom crawl, with massive riffs and plodding drums creating a thunderous backdrop to multi-layered, effects laden vocals. Get your doom air guitar out for the killer "The Adversary", and you can almost imagine King Diamond slotting in on vocals on the dramatic "Fememorde". Then again, if you just want to hear some melodic, melancholy doom with dreamy female vocals, there's no better than "Scimitar", a real winner complete with some well crafted riffs and harmony guitar parts.
At times, the vibe on this album is not unlike what we heard on Ghost's debut, though a tad more in the doom realm. This trio really have knocked it out of the park here on Old World New Wave, a chilling release that works on many levels, providing loads of heaviness as well as intrigue. Well done.
See more about this release on our recent YouTube show!
Track Listing
01 Black Door
02 The Chalice & The Blade
03 Seer Of Circassia
04 White Hart
05 May 22, 1453
06 The Adversary
07 Fememorde
08 Valediction
09 Scimitar
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