Album Of The Day: Blood Ceremony ? Living With The Ancients |
Kategorie: Roadburn Festival | |
geschrieben von: Roadburn Festival | geschrieben am: 13.03.2011 um: 08:13 Uhr |
Praise for Blood Ceremony‘s Living With The Ancients from San Francisco’s Aquarius Records aQuarius Records: This Canadian doom-psych-prog-metal band’s 2008 debut was a big fave ’round here, we likened their female-fronted n’ flutey, Hammond organ driven occult heaviness to “Electric Wizard given a medieval, madrigal makeover” and compared ‘em to a hypothetical Atomic Rooster plus Jacula plusJex Thoth hybrid. So, stoked are we to announce the arrival of a brand new Blood Ceremony, still damp and crimson, and damn good!
With plenty of rollicking Hammond organ and swinging retro riffery, they deliver the progged-out proto-metal goods like it’s 1971 and they’ve just come from getting stoned with their groovy coven. Complete with a flute happy instrumental (‘The Hermit’). And definitely, with a lot hinging on the dramatic, stagey, sometimes soft, sometimes soaring, vocals of Alia O’Brien. Again, VERY much in the vein of Jex Thoth. O’Brien and Blood Ceremony are almost the Burning Saviours to Jex Thoth’s Witchcraft, if you follow that doom-nerd analogy. Another would be Black Sabbath with a sex change, and Deep Purple or Uriah Heep’s keyboards hired on… as Sabbath’s actual keyboardy stuff, courtesy caped wonder Rick Wakeman on Sabbath Bloody Sabbath ferinstance, was a lot more “synthy” sounding than the classic Hammond vibe heard here, played in kick ass fashion by O’Brien by the way. A triple threat talent who’s also the band’s flautist, flaunting it indeed, what would they do without her? Not that the guitarist, for one, doesn’t get to shine as well, in the riff department, and dueling leads with the organ, like during the swirling, surging tour de force of the epic ‘Oliver Haddo’ (the album’s second longest song, not quite beating out the 10 minute plus closer, ‘Daughter Of The Sun’, another extended, involved rite, all right). This disc’s too-dark cover photo of the band is about the only disappointment, whereas the cover painting for their first album, by fantasy artist George Barr, was something to look at. But for listening, this is indeed the answer to your prayers to the Great God Pan. So good, we simply can’t get enough of this, and if you too are truly in the mood for some beauteous and bombastic, rockin’ pagan prog heaviness, then it’s time to begin Living With The Ancients!
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