Crawling from the darkest corners of Boston, Massachusetts , Doomriders once again rise from the grave to bring us the band’s second full length album ’Darkness Come Alive’ and by God does it!
‘Fade From Black’ and ‘Heavy Lies The Crown’ open a window into the blackest of souls setting the bar for the 17 track rager before exploding into the visceral ‘Bear Witness’. In typical Doomriders style, ‘Darkness Come Alive’ toys with many a genre and style. The semi-title track ‘Come Alive’ almost dabbles in the realm of acid educed doom where as ‘Bloodsuckers’ and ‘Knife Wound’ are hardcore punk cross-bread with a classic British heavy metal. The truly epic ‘Jealous God’ has a spine shattering riff that would make even the Melvins tremble. Shit you not, sir.
Even on first listen, the music is tighter, more complex and focused with the tracks like ‘Mercy’ boasting an impressive guitar duel between axe-men Nate Newton and Chris Pupecki. Not to mention Newton’s gruff vocal talents slashed all over riff heavy ‘Lions’ as well as the thrashing ‘Rotter’. Be it the JR’s constant smashing of the skins to the pummelling baselines from Jebb Riley, ‘Darkness...’ is un-relenting on all levels. All of these evil jams are peppered with little musical interludes and evil drones that keep the record flowing from track to track and add to the already sinister guise of the record.
You only have to listen to ‘Darkness Come Alive’ to notice how much Doomriders have grown as a band. The almost tongue-in-cheek homage paid to their influences and idols on first release, ‘Black Thunder’, is absent whereas their sophomore effort takes a nose dive into a world of the macabre and the grim as the band now walk their own path.
‘Fade From Black’ and ‘Heavy Lies The Crown’ open a window into the blackest of souls setting the bar for the 17 track rager before exploding into the visceral ‘Bear Witness’. In typical Doomriders style, ‘Darkness Come Alive’ toys with many a genre and style. The semi-title track ‘Come Alive’ almost dabbles in the realm of acid educed doom where as ‘Bloodsuckers’ and ‘Knife Wound’ are hardcore punk cross-bread with a classic British heavy metal. The truly epic ‘Jealous God’ has a spine shattering riff that would make even the Melvins tremble. Shit you not, sir.
Even on first listen, the music is tighter, more complex and focused with the tracks like ‘Mercy’ boasting an impressive guitar duel between axe-men Nate Newton and Chris Pupecki. Not to mention Newton’s gruff vocal talents slashed all over riff heavy ‘Lions’ as well as the thrashing ‘Rotter’. Be it the JR’s constant smashing of the skins to the pummelling baselines from Jebb Riley, ‘Darkness...’ is un-relenting on all levels. All of these evil jams are peppered with little musical interludes and evil drones that keep the record flowing from track to track and add to the already sinister guise of the record.
You only have to listen to ‘Darkness Come Alive’ to notice how much Doomriders have grown as a band. The almost tongue-in-cheek homage paid to their influences and idols on first release, ‘Black Thunder’, is absent whereas their sophomore effort takes a nose dive into a world of the macabre and the grim as the band now walk their own path.
Doomriders have made a heavy metal record sound the way it should. Not the over produced nonsense you hear time and again these days. Their second full length shows a hunger to produce the best metal record possible. This record gets your fucking blood pumping. It’s rough around the edges. It’s low-fi, independent and fucking harsh. It ignites the same passion in the listener as the band has to play and record these ferocious jams. But above all this record is stone cold true, jack! Doomriders = Heavy fucking metal. Fact.These four dudes from Boston have evolved into what can only be described as a massive, hulking beast of a band since their debut effort. The ‘difficult second album’ curse has been completely obliterated as ‘Darkness...’ shines through as one of this year’s stand out heavy metal releases.
Go fast! Play loud! Worship the second coming of the mighty Doomriders. On your knees!
No comments:
Post a Comment