ninehertz

I don't know if this catches me just in the right mood and place, but I'm smitten with this from early on, my introduction to Grave Speaker having me smiling from half way through the first song, pretty much to the end. It isn't wildly innovative, you'll know the stoner and doom sounds, but it doesn't dim my enthusiasm. Oh, and they're a solo act, which is crackers to be honest.

The instrumentation's simplicity is key - and not at all derogatory. On the opening Chosen One, the blunt bass sound lays the doom grounds, unsure where this is heading until the vocals arrive and raise it to a place I wasn't expecting it to go, providing a slight difference, much more of the proto-doom mold, the whole thing seems to elevate as it goes along. It's half Electric Wizard, half Kadavar. This flows into End of Time, occult doom applied to a garage rock schema - it is such a slight variance to barely be a thing, a combination of two genres already close on the family tree. Yet this feels inspired because of it, it loops round in suspiciously cloudy airs without doing too much.

I'm hooked already. Sword of Life has this almost gospel or even chain-gang sing-along vocal style which is surprising, the confidence on display and willingness to move out of the usual doom introversion reminding me a little of the old Tee Pee Records band Priestess. The highlight, amongst stiff competition, is Bones and Steel with its gorgeous blues lament, assured but with a rueful grin, backed by a heavier, fuzzier guitar than you'd normally associate with such a mood, wistful solo in its middle n all.

There's one song in six which didn't have me engrossed and emotionally involved, and even that track is okay. For an uncomplicated approach to stoner rock sounds, Grave Speaker don't half master it.