Witchfinder General

Lord Vicar – Gates of Flesh Review

Lord Vicar – Gates of Flesh Review

Lord Vicar has been banging about for a while without a lot of press, which is strange considering they’re a doom super group of sorts. In their ranks you’ll find former members of Saint Vitus and Reverend Bizarre and they definitely know a thing or two about their chosen genre. 2011s Signs of Osiris was a sleeper that fell through the AMG cracks and didn’t get reviewed but should be heard as there’s much to admire in their earnest, throwback approach to the days of Witchfinder General, Pentagram and Black Sabbath.” Superdoom? Well call me McLovin!

Year of the Goat – The Unspeakable Review

Year of the Goat – The Unspeakable Review

“It wasn’t very long into Year of the Goat’s sophomore effort, The Unspeakable that I was asking myself, “self, is this the second coming of Ghost?” The answer is no, since that happens next month and it’ll be their third coming (or two and a half since I didn’t care much for Infestissumam), but this here platter certainly has a lot of similarities to the goods provided by those mysterious masked ghouls.” Boo!

Bloody Hammers – Spiritual Relics Review

Bloody Hammers – Spiritual Relics Review

Well, this is a bit of a surprise. I never heard of Bloody Hammers until I reviewed their self-titled debut in February, and now they’re back with a follow-up a mere seven months later! Talk about productivity! While I liked aspects of the debut and their Hour of 13 and Witchfinder General meets Danzig approach to retro “occult rock,” things felt a bit underwhelming as a whole and suffered from inconsistent songwriting.” With so little time between releases, is it realistic to expect big improvement on Spiritual Relics? Steel Druhm is here to prep your expectations accordingly.

Church of Void – Dead Rising Review

Church of Void – Dead Rising Review

Church of Void is a young upstart Finnish doom band, but they like to bill themselves as the spearhead of the “new wave of traditional heavy doom metal.” While that might be putting the cart before the dead horse quite a bit for an obscure band, I admire their hyperbole and moxie. Featuring former members of Battlelore and Horna, they play a slightly amorphous style of doom that skips between 70s Sabbath worshipping acts like Orchid and Hour of 13, modern doom like Katatonia and even stoner rock like Monster Magnet.” Can a young band lead the way in a style so old and gnarly? Steel Druhm is also old and gnarly so we asked him.

Ghost – Infestissumam Review

Ghost – Infestissumam Review

“Like many others in the metalverse, Steel Druhm got caught up in the hype surrounding the strangely addictive pope-isms of mysterious cult rockers Ghost and their stellar debut Opus Eponymous. They had a wicked sound, a cool, throwback charm and the tunes were as catchy as athlete’s foot. While there was a nagging worry they might be a one-off novelty act and would fold up shop like a fly-by-night carnival, I was anxious to get my hands on the not so long-awaited followup, Infestissumam. After some time with the album and after giving this serious thought, I’ve come to the conclusion that Opus Eponymous was their version of The Warning, and Infestissumam is their attempt at a Rage for Order. While Queensryche was able to make the jump from a straight-forward metal album to a more cerebral, progressive sound due to elbow grease, spit (courtesy of Mr. Tate) and sheer talent, Ghost is not quite so lucky.” Ghost blew away the metal world with their debut, but Steel Druhm thinks they may be haunted by their own early success. Join him as he goes Ghostbusting.

Bloody Hammers – Bloody Hammers Review

Bloody Hammers – Bloody Hammers Review

“Its clear the whole “occult retro doom/rock” thing is here to stay, like it or not. With entities like Hour of 13, Castle, Occultation, Devil’s Blood and Ghost already throwing on the vest, hailing the 70s and generally receiving good press, you can expect newcomers to keep popping up like hippies at a grow-op. Bloody Hammers is one of those filthy, dirty hippies (saddled with a name that implies a death metal barrage).” I know what you’re all thinking. Why won’t Steel Druhm stop shoving retro doomy vest metal at us? Well, I shove because I love and here’s more vest to add to the rest!

Things You Might Have Missed 2012: Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats – Blood Lust

Things You Might Have Missed 2012: Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats – Blood Lust

Time for all the stuff you might have missed!! Join us as we do our yearly round-up of shit that got overlooked, underrated, misplaced and otherwise blackballed, censored or buried. Steel Druhm kicks off the festivities with a weird one from the weirdly named Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats. Do you like Ghost? How about old style doom? Well then pilgrim, you better read up!