Album Type: Full Length
Date
Released:
31/10/2017
Label: Cursed Monk
Records
If you are a fan
of Weed Priest's ultra-heavy music, you will walk away pleased. However, those
new to the now-quartet will also be impressed by such additions turning out its
best work so far.
"Consummate
Darkness" CD//DD//LP
track listing
1.
Witch's Curse
2.
Vampyr
3.
Sky Daddy
4.
The Mass
The Review:
It
is quite a feat for a metal band to have a really distinctive opener, one that
seizes your attention with its sound and fury. So when Irish blackened doom
band Weed
Priest launches its new album, "Consummate
Darkness," with the song "Witch's
Curse," a blistering opus if ever there was one, you can't help but
stand at attention. Dishing out classic metal into the denser style of today, Weed Priest's uniquely
heavy return is most welcome.
The
group dropped a demo in 2011, then a full-length in 2013 and an EP in 2014.
After changes to its squad – Weed Priest switched drummers and added a
guitarist during this period – the four-piece issued splits in 2015 (with Astralnaut)
and 2016 (with Black
Capricorn). Adding players is always iffy business. "Consummate Darkness" marks
the first chance for Weed Priest to spread its batlike wings on a
full length using its fresh lineup.
Vocalist
Adamus de Sabbator gets one hell of a backdrop to build on with that opening
cut. And on "Vampyr," a
track that surfaced as a preview to the album, he flips the vocal to be
especially haunting. Paralleled with guitarist Sean Sullivan, de Sabbator's
riffs as well as Sullivan's prove intimidating too. The vivid lyricism gets a
fun touch with clips from German filmmaker Werner Herzog's 1979 adaption of
"Nosferatu the Vampyre," featuring longtime collaborator Klaus Kinski
and, for the sake of the song, Ronald Topor's wonderfully unhinged performance
as Renfield. "Vampyr" comes in at just over 10 minutes, but feels
quite complete, without bloat or overlong elements.
"Sky Daddy" brings Weed Priest
back to familiar ground as some of its past work. The song is undoubtedly more
on the classic metal and stoner vibe you may have heard before when the group
was just a trio. Bassist K.H. Rhaagulus does a particularly good job of
knitting the cut together by balancing his playing with the drums and adding
some ballast to the twin guitars. Overall, it a pleasing entry, and certainly
red meat for the stoner rock heads out there.
"Consummate
Darkness" closes out with "The
Mass," a 14-minute-plus slab of aural concrete hurled at you. Here,
all of Weed
Priest's parts come together seamlessly. Bass and drums build
slowly, until the guitars swoop in. This is doom at its best, and the black
metal-inspired growls mixed in to make those ominous guitars feel all the more
threatening. "The Mass"
demonstrates a new maturity for Weed Priest. The song is deliberate in a
different way than some of its better past work, and the added guitar offers
far more depth than previous outings. A critical ear might suggest the solos 11
minutes in might be a bit much, but they are forgivable, given all the energy
the group puts into such a sterling cut.
