ninehertz

I struggle to keep up with the family tree connections of these bands – it’s a wonder the band members manage to remember which songs they’re playing when live. When I first came across Orme, they featured members of Everest Queen and Praetorian – now two of them pop up in Ritual Smoke alongside a member of Morag Tong.

As the band name and all round aesthetic alludes, this is their chance for more direct, traditional doom away from the long form drone of Orme or the prog-psych stylings of Morag Tong, and they’re not trying to hide it either, as the album title makes clear.

Gleefully, that’s not to say that they’re not adding anything to the bubbling doom cauldron of the UK underground. There’s a lot within Black Sabbathory to be stirred by. You understand that traight away, with the opening chapter Hasheeshian Tomb. Yes, its Electric Wizard inspired, with a passing Chosen Few resemblance early on, but the doom tone is addictive, the dual vocal approach offers something different and the ridiculous dope-minded lyrics (the first words uttered being “Into crypts of purple haze, Under a funeral shroom, Onwards Iommic brethren blaze, Praise Death Hail Doom”) make it more than worthwhile.

There’s a freedom in here to play and go where it may – the bassline of the title track may sound like rolling thunder, but the guitar is illuminated by a psychedelically soloing guitar, providing a mixture of light and menace. Streets of the Damned impresses through lyrics that are both a statement on the political neglect of local communities and the script of a graveyard-set occult horror film script, depending on how deep you wish to hear them, all within lurching doom. And then the final track brings it all to an end through four minutes of organ, an aesthetically apt variance with its strangely ominous vibes, closed out with the sound of rain.

At the top level, it is nothing new, but then that’s the aim. Look to their other bands to prove they can provide innovation. And anyway, the quality, the skill and even flair here within more than compensates for any begrudging sentiment to total originality, providing an excellent and fun doom record.