{"id":21167,"date":"2013-11-02T00:00:45","date_gmt":"2013-11-02T00:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=21167"},"modified":"2014-08-07T16:20:48","modified_gmt":"2014-08-07T16:20:48","slug":"album-review-brimstone-coven-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-brimstone-coven-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"BRIMSTONE COVEN – II (2013) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

BRIMSTONE COVEN
II<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nSelf-released (2013) <\/span>
Rating: 8\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Now I don\u2019t wanna sound daft, but it seems that any contemporary band with the word \u201cCoven\u201d or \u201cWizard\u201d in their name nearly always turns out to be doom metal. It\u2019s not a bad thing of course, especially if the music sits right, but the influence of Black Sabbath<\/a> is most certainly going to last forever, and with these US doom metal merchants we have another slab of bluesy yet weighty rock carved straight from the heart of darkness.<\/p>\n

Doom metal is having a bit of resurgence mainly due to the effects of \u201coccult rock\u201d and Sabbath\u2019s continuation with their recent 13<\/em><\/a> (2013) opus. Even so, the genre is getting bogged down by rather formulaic acts who seem to occupy three spots on the spectrum.<\/p>\n

Firstly, we have the fuzzed out stoner bands who drive me nuts with their gluey treatments. Then there are those who belong in Satan\u2019s corner, obsessed with 50s and 60s B-movie psych outs and costume drama. And finally, there\u2019s acts such as Brimstone Coven, who seem to occupy a place slightly more sparse and simple, but still as effective.<\/p>\n

This Wheeling, West Virginia-based combo opt for bluesy riffs that are naturally forged from Sabbath\u2019s fire but all the while residing in that dark corner once cluttered by Pentagram, Witchfinder General, Count Raven, and a whole host of 70s swaggering, whisky-drinking warlords of the glum. So what I\u2019m saying is that retro rock continues, and in this case it\u2019s not too bad.<\/p>\n

As the title suggest, II<\/em> is Brimstone Coven\u2019s second offering, and follows 2012\u2019s self-titled debut. The album boasts 10 numbers, all of which take influence from a bit of Led Zeppelin<\/a>, a bit of Deep Purple, and that general 70s rock vibe which should sit well with today\u2019s metal audience that seems for the most part to consist of hipster dudes who enjoy getting high on folky psych-drenched anthems built on big riffs.<\/p>\n

This opus shouldn\u2019t disappoint because it\u2019s big in all departments, mainly due to the fact we have Corey Roth\u2019s deep churning riffs which sound as if they\u2019ve been born out of a vast arena from that golden era of stadium rock. But in general the sound of this quartet is one that is smooth, especially in the vocals of \u201cBig John\u201d Williams.<\/p>\n

The opening track is an effective tumble of Dan Hercules\u2019 fluent percussion and an almost stark yet oaken riff caressed by cosmic lyrical annotations. I\u2019m thinking partly Masters Of Reality too; just in the blues-soaked yet boogie nature with \u2018Behold, The Anunnaki\u2019 and its mystical tumble hinting at folky psych and prog rock.<\/p>\n

The album offers so much that it becomes a veritable feast of flavours. Instant favourites for me include the Black Sabbath-esque rumble of \u2018The Grave\u2019, the rolling thunder of \u2018The S\u00e9ance\u2019, the gothic, church organ throb of \u2018Hades Hymn\u2019, and the truly lumbering giant of a closer \u2018The Folly Of Faust\u2019.<\/p>\n

With this opus, Brimstone Coven have cemented their place in doom metal folklore by creating a rather breezy album which is gimmick free, yet high on riffage \u2019n\u2019 roll.<\/p>\n

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

BRIMSTONE COVENII Self-released (2013) Rating: 8\/10 Now I don\u2019t wanna sound daft, but it seems that any contemporary band with the word \u201cCoven\u201d or \u201cWizard\u201d in their name nearly always turns out to be doom metal. It\u2019s not a bad thing of course, especially if the music sits right, but the influence of Black Sabbath […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,1369],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-brimstone-coven"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21167","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=21167"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21167\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21171,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21167\/revisions\/21171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}