By:
Ben Fitts
Album
Type:
Full Length
Date
Released: 16/01/2017
Label:
Independent
“Children
of the Haze” is defined by loose grooves, ghoulish riffing and a very vintage
sense of wickedness. Dopelord prove that, unlike many other stoner metal bands,
they are not content to just create the same song several times over and call
it an album.
“Children
of the Haze” CD//DD//LP track listing:
1). Navigator
2). Scum Priest
3). Children of the Haze
4). Skulls and Candles
5). Dead Inside (I & II)
6). Reptile Sun
The
Review:
If
music could manifest itself in nature, Polish stoner doom quartet Dopelord
would be a murky, black fog. “Children Of The Haze”, the band’s aptly named third album,
envelopes you like a cloud of smog that swarms your senses and leaves you lost
and helpless at the side of the road. Dense slabs of syrupy guitar and bass
fuzz purr underneath clean (with some exceptions), retro vocals. “Children
of the Haze” is defined by
loose grooves, ghoulish riffing and a very vintage sense of wickedness. Dopelord
prove that, unlike many other stoner metal bands, they are not content to just
create the same song several times over and call it an album (although it is
worth noting that sometimes that trick can be executed wonderfully).
Each
of the six tracks on “Children of the Haze” has its own identity, while still
managing to retain all the key elements of Dopelord’s sound. The album’s opening
track, “Navigator”, creeps like a limping tortoise. Although the
opening track oozes with tranquillity rare to metal, “Children of the Haze” quickly changes moods on the next
track, “Scum Priest”. The album’s most aggressive track, “Scum
Priest” is loaded with bombastic riffing, a vicious demeanour and has
the harshest vocals to be found anywhere on the album. “Scum Priest” is followed by the album’s title track, whose
chant like vocals and archaic atmosphere makes it the ideal soundtrack to any
and all coven based activities.
With
clean guitar tones, cavern-like reverb and absolutely no attempt made at heaviness,
“Skulls and Candles” is the most fiercely individualistic track on the
album. “Skulls and Candles” is a
spooky yet oddly assuaging little number, whose location as the album’s fourth
track makes it a very effective and pleasant palate cleanser after the
twenty-one minutes of thick fuzz and heavy riffs that precede it. This
divergence is followed by the albums longest and possible standout track,
“Dead Inside (I&II)”. Over the course of nine minutes and nineteen
seconds, “Dead Inside (I&II)” unfolds from a sluggish grind into the
album’s fastest, most propulsive and hardest-hitting track. The payoff is
gradual, but is all the more effective for the time that it took to get there. “Children
of the Haze’s closing track, “Reptile Sun”, sees the album at it filthiest.
Squalid tones, gruffer vocals and overall nastiness give “Reptile Sun” just the
right amount of punch to perfectly end the album.
FFO: Belzebong, Electric Wizard, Black Sabbath, Major Kong
