Reverend Bizarre--Harbinger Of Metal
Spinefarm 2003
On their debut album, In The Rectory Of The Bizarre Reverend, Reverend Bizarre did a flawless job ushering the style of doom metal pioneered by Reagers-era Saint Vitus into the new millenium. After a period of deserved acclaim, as well as controversy, the band are back with a second offering, Harbinger Of Metal. If there was doubt in anyone's mind after that first disc, this new outing affirms beyond a shadow of a doubt that Reverend Bizarre are true masters.
If you're unfamiliar with Reverend Bizarre's sound, it could be said this stuff is the sonic equivalent of being blindfolded and beaten full-force with wet pillows in super slow motion. Should you be looking for masturbatory speed guitar runs or a stoned groove, Harbinger Of Metal will leave you fetally positioned in a corner, terrified--this is the polar opposite of that stuff. What you get with Reverend Bizarre is additive-free doom metal, performed slower than an ice cap melting. This stuff has a very classic feel to it and that's the whole point.
This 74 minute EP is primarily centered around three songs, all of them perfect in composition and execution. The cool thing about this material is that it holds true to the standard of In The Rectory...but also stretches the band a bit. This is most evident on "From The Void"--still heavy as hell while employing blackened screams instead of Albert's typically smooth baritone vocals. It works like ganagbusters and these guys further repel nonbelievers by putting a doom metal drum solo into the middle of the song--obviously in an attempt to make the ADD set's heads explode. That said, the real gem on Harbinger Of Metal is "Strange Horizon." This song is an instant classic and exemplifies why Reverend Bizarre are so great--the riff and vocals repetitively pound into your consciousness, but on the third and fourth vocal passes, Albert slides just two notes up in pitch at the end of the vocal phrase and the payoff is chill inducing. It is genius in its simplicity.
Reverend Bizarre have delivered another all-time classic in Harbinger Of Metal. The way these guys desecrate the corpse of "stoner rock" with their pure brand of unrelenting doom metal makes it virtually impossible not to cheer for them and root them on. If you're biased because of all the gossip and bad feelings stirred up around these guys from the online doom-metal wars, you owe it to this music to check that at the door and recognize this album for how special it truly is. Anything less is poseurfied.
Score this CD directly from SPINEFARM
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