One of the surprises of last year for me was the release of this monster record. As you do when surfing the net, you come across all sorts of wonderful things, and I was blown away when I heard this. This is actually their second album and it takes you back to the early seventies vibe, of which my formative musical years were. So it has a a big nostalgia vibe for me, but at the same time it sounds very now. There is a big Deep Purple/Sabbath feel to proceedings, which is great to hear a young band taking this sound and running with it. Most new bands that you hear, who are into the whole retro thing, use Zeppelin as reference point. I’ll admit to not being the biggest Zeppelin fan, but Purple and Sabbath I’m in all the way.
There is a very medieval/occult vibe to this record and it also feels like an original soundtrack, as though they envisaged a cinematic world to their creation. The opening intro to Old Gods even reminds me of Boston with it’s instrumental beginning. Leaders Of The Blind is just a superb song, epic in its delivery and creation, and it’s really hard to believe this is from the present and not the 70’s. The instrumental title track, Black Harvest, is just fantastic and is so majestic sounding as it builds and builds. The big monster track for me is the close out track, Born To A Dying World, which is very different to rest of the album as it has a slow blues/psych beginning that shows the talents of vocalist Tom Templar.
This is a killer record and I cannot recommend it highly enough.
10/10 from The Grooveman.
