{"id":11822,"date":"1973-03-28T00:00:59","date_gmt":"1973-03-28T00:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=11822"},"modified":"2013-06-01T15:01:13","modified_gmt":"2013-06-01T15:01:13","slug":"album-review-led-zeppelin-houses-of-the-holy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-led-zeppelin-houses-of-the-holy\/","title":{"rendered":"LED ZEPPELIN – Houses Of The Holy (1973) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

LED ZEPPELIN
Houses Of The Holy<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nAtlantic (1973)<\/span>
Rating: 8\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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So, a gap of a year-and-a-half… blimey, the boys must be slacking! Thankfully, Led Zeppelin<\/a> finally releases an album with a proper title! Houses Of The Holy<\/em> is an eight-track affair that runs for about 40 minutes, and musically it\u2019s the same well-stirred cauldron of bluesy rock.<\/p>\n

Album opener is the upbeat \u2018The Song Remains The Same\u2019 on which Jimmy Page plays a double-necked guitar to rattle out those jingles, jangles and occasionally driving yet mostly bluesy riffs \u2013 no surprise that this track started out as an instrumental.<\/p>\n

\u2018The Rain Song\u2019 is a seven-minute ballad which, in my humble opinion, comes too soon on the album, the band exploring more obscure angles to breathe life into those sun-drenched window panes. Led Zeppelin try their hand at strings and more synthesisers to create something akin to a film soundtrack.<\/p>\n

The track is injected by the occasional reflective twang and pleasant melody, giving the number an orchestral feel which melts into the equally pleasing \u2018Over The Hills And Far Away\u2019 \u2013 another acoustic ballad best suited to a day spent overlooking rolling fields and lush horizons. Only halfway through does the track come to life, heaving like a stripped down boogie with the understated riff and John Bonham\u2019s almost caressed skins.<\/p>\n

The oddly titled \u2018The Crunge\u2019 has to be Led Zeppelin at their funkiest. Fast forward this track another two decades and you can hear where Prince got his struttin\u2019 influence. Robert Plant is a sex machine on fire with his soulful licks, which cavort with Page\u2019s funky guitar. It\u2019s a drastic change from the usual folky bluesy numbers, but it walks hand in hand with the reggae-influenced \u2018D\u2019yer Mak\u2019er\u2019, which again sees the band at their most experimental. It\u2019s a track light years ahead of its time, still struttin\u2019 on that upbeat and bouncy guitar and Plant\u2019s soulful croon, both tracks providing the most entertainment on this colourful opus.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, we\u2019re treated to the jarring groove of \u2018Dancing Days\u2019 and the rockin\u2019 swagger of \u2018The Ocean\u2019, with what has now become Page\u2019s symbolic guitar arrogance. But no review of this album can go without mention of the wondrous seven-minute \u2018No Quarter\u2019, which begins like some remote sci-fi soundtrack until the sprawling guitar and cascading drums intervene. Plant\u2019s vocals are a mere tortured warble amidst the buzzing guitar plod and occasional weirder piano-laced passages courtesy of John Paul Jones. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s fair to say that Houses Of The Holy<\/em> is not everyone\u2019s cup of tea, but when experienced in the right mood it can be one hell of an album, because, despite its progressive meanderings, it boasts a handful of classy cuts.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LED ZEPPELINHouses Of The Holy Atlantic (1973)Rating: 8\/10 So, a gap of a year-and-a-half… blimey, the boys must be slacking! Thankfully, Led Zeppelin finally releases an album with a proper title! Houses Of The Holy is an eight-track affair that runs for about 40 minutes, and musically it\u2019s the same well-stirred cauldron of bluesy rock. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[587],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11822","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-led-zeppelin"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11822","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11822"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11822\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12125,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11822\/revisions\/12125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}