Blood Ceremony - Lord Of Misrule
SKU
19-Rise CD 197
Lord Of Misrule is the fourth by a Canadian quartet who are very ably mining the field of 1971/1972, Vertigo-label progressive hard rock/proto-prog.
Alie O'Brien sings, plays flute and electric keyboards, fronting before a solid power trio behind her.
They take their influences of early Jethro Tull (circa Stand Up, but with the Hammond organ of Benefit) crossed with the heaviness of early Deep Purple and maybe even a touch of early Black Sabbath at their proggiest and make it their own. A great, fun and original retro band.
"Blood Ceremony has once again evolved, going further down the path they started on their 2013 release, The Eldritch Dark, bringing their hard rock, folk and psychedelic influences to the forefront, which results in an album that is catchy, dark and alluring.
In fact, Lord Of Misrule adds another new wrinkle to the fold, as they go further into the past, and include a few songs that have a 60’s garage rock feel to them. Instead of diluting their sound, it just adds broadens their palate.
Opener “The Devil’s Widow” starts off quietly and then breaks into a quick pace, with vocalist Alia O’Brien’s flute playing, riding shotgun over the riffs. In addition, guitarist Sean Kennedy, lets loose with one of many ripping guitar solos. Though the track, takes some detour into more traditional doom on the chorus, it retains its up-tempo pace for most of the track.
“Loreley” adds some Middle Eastern chords to the mix, while “Flower Phantoms” sounds like a catchy nugget of fuzzed out sixties garage rock. “The Rogue’s Lot” is a slice of doom-influenced hard rock, while “Old Fires”, opens with a blast of organ that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Deep Purple album, and rocks out in a most righteous way. “The Weird Of Finistere” offers a more paired down take on psychedelic folk, while closer “Things Present, Things Past” ends the album on a somber note.
Lord Of Misrule is the sound of a band stretching beyond their original influences and really coming into their own. Some people may not classify them as a metal band anymore, but that’s their loss, because this new album is an exciting slice of dark hard rock.
It will be interesting to see where they go from here."-New Noise
- LabelRise Above
- UPC803341505155