You know, I thought sHEAVY’s Steve Hennessey had the Ozzy-sound-a-like market cornered, but Freedom Hawk’s T.R. Morton has every bit the bat head-biting chords Hennessey does. But where sHEAVY is cosmically monolithic, Freedom Hawk is demonically earthy, blazing a path of accelerated doom-groove on dirty wheels of steel, thus drawing a more staunch comparison to Black Sabbath and solo-era Ozzy. I mean, it’s nothing new for a stoner rock band to sound like Sabbath, but Holding On, the Virginia band’s second full-length album, takes it one step beyond, greasing the riffs up with just enough metal melody to give ‘em a commercially viable hard rock sound. That’s not to say it doesn’t deserve your particular attention, because it does; what it means is that Freedom Hawk is better and heavier than, say, a Fireball Ministry or Big Rig, and flexes every single musical muscle they have on songs like “Thunderfoot,” “Living for Days,” “North Swell,” and “Indian Summer,” which command your attention, like an iron grip ’round your throat, with that aforementioned Sabbath power, and some Fu Manchu gusto and Generous Maria electricism, too. When they’re not sounding like Cluth (“Bandito”) or Candlemass (“Faded”), that is. Pure POWER is what is, man, plain and simple.
Ritualistic doom from the five high priests of the Church of Ox, that being War Ox, Axe Ox, Myth Ox, Beast Ox, and Frost Ox, chosen to deliver Ox dogma — or the principles of Oxism — and to spread the great word of the Lord God Ox, may He be exalted.
No, I’m not kidding.
More than just a six-song online release, Abyssal Gigantism tells of the oxchatological order of things, and is at once a warning, a lesson, and a preparation for the coming judgment. Now, whether you choose to believe in the Ox gospel or fall prey to its mocking tenor matters little so long as you find occasion to worship the dopey, bluesy, alt-sludge through which this divination is delivered. With vocals both clean and aggressive, with a pace both lumbering and invading, with riffs as large as Mount Oxlympus itself, the songs on Abyssal Gigantism are extra heavy and ultra hallowed points of entry into a world ruled by all things Ox, but one that also owes its black, madcap measure to Electric Wizard, Saint Vitus, Candlemass, Black Sabbath, and, at points, early Soundgarden and Life of Agony. And perhaps inspired by the Lord God Ox, may He be exalted, or perhaps because they are forging this music on his behalf, God Ox have seen fit to elevate themselves from the mire of doom benevolence with intricate instances of mellow psych-jams, slide guitar, and progressive experimentation. A massive, diverse, and I suppose divine, creation, this God Ox.
Twenty years of caravans and carnivals, funeral marches and phantasmagoria, witches and whores. Twenty years of shaping the pagan metal landscape with heavy grooves and medieval riffs. Twenty years of Lee Dorrian’s high mass madness and apothecary anarchy. Twenty years of Cathedral. Twenty years of DOOM.
Ok, I’m not here to tell you whether or not Cathedral’s first ever double album, The Guessing Game, is good or not. We are well beyond those kinds of formalities. As members of an illustrious, iconic group of doom metal pioneers that includes Black Sabbath, Pentagram, Candlemass, Trouble, and Electric Wizard, Cathedral have earned your undying devotion, your unfaltering allegiance, and the benefit of the doubt over the years (not that they’ve ever needed it). I will tell you, however, that The Guessing Game’s stylistic blueprint is gloriously eclectic; Cathedral flexes its signature, thick, Stonehenge sized guitar muscles on songs like “Edwige’s Eyes” and “Casket Chasers” but the progressive, psychedelic demeanor of songs like “Funeral of Dreams” and “Cats, Incense, Candles and Wine” hearkens back to the days of Vanilla Fudge, Pink Floyd, Gentle Giant, and King Crimson. Of course, you’ve also got the classic dope n’ roll of “Requiem for the Voiceless,” which crawls on all bony fours like a hungry prisoner to a plate of cold gruel. So, is it good? You already know the answer to that, my friend. But if you must really know, it’s unruly and evil, and sounds like twenty years of doom has finally taken its rightful toll.
Check out this video teaser for The Guessing Game!
Freedom Hawk
God Ox
Cathedral