By: Richard Maw
Album Type: Full Length
Date Released: 13/10/2017
Label: Riding Easy Records
I don't expect it to usurp the likes
of “Born Too Late” or Pentagram “Relentless” in my list of best all time doom
albums, but if you want a modern doom rock album with lots of attitude and
overdrive, then this is one you should check out.
“Street Reaper “CD//DD//LP
track listing:
1). Unmarked Grave
2). Street Reaper
3). Mother Road
4). The Dark
5). The Other Side
6). Shadows Fool
7). Brimstone
8). The Cross
9). The Casket
10). Die in Vain
The Review:
Portland's
R.I.P. unleashed their debut on an unsuspecting public back
in 2016. Since then, the press seem to have latched on to the quartet's “street
doom” label as something new in the doom sphere. Truthfully, it is not. Street
doom is as old as Saint Vitus and The Obsessed... maybe even as old as Sabbath!
Any doom head knows the difference- fantasy vs reality, heroes vs heroin and so
on. Regardless of what genre tag has
been ascribed, “In The Wind” was an
enjoyable slice of Saint Vitus meeting Fu Manchu. With “Street
Reaper”, the band have progressed their sound on by focussing it and
tightening up the arrangements.
The
one minor criticism I levelled at their debut was that it was a little on the
long side. Well, the ten tracks here have solved that problem and the band have
really delivered a muscular set of songs. Once again, the influences are there:
Pentagram, The Stooges, Saint Vitus, Sabbath... and the
aforementioned Fu Manchu. The spectre of the Californian
state looms large in the sound and vibe, and gives the band a little something
extra, a little uniqueness. A little of the desert and a little of the imagery
shown on the album cover- four hirsute dudes rolling in a low-rider. It is
clear that these guys are not from Barnsley, that's for sure!
The
music is direct and punchy, featuring over-driven bass and fuzzed up guitars
again. The riffs are simple and groovy and this really does have the feel of
street level music. From the opening chug of “Unmarked Grave”, through the title track and beyond; this will get
your head nodding. As noted first time around, it is great to hear a band with
a singer and actual riffs. This isn't about playing really slow or being
massively heavy but is instead more about the vibe and the flow of the record.
There are nods to the gods via instrumental interludes like “The Cross”, grooving slabs of riffage
such as “Shadows Folds” and even
some more melodic playing here and there (the intro of “The Dark”, for instance, and the closing “Die in Vain”).
The
wheel is not being reinvented here, but that isn't the point. R.I.P. bring a slightly more youthful swagger to the game-
it's welcome as most of the really big players are knocking on a bit now, to say the least. By the time of the
seventh track “The Casket”, you will
have made up your mind about the album. Personally, I like it. I don't expect
it to usurp the likes of “Born Too Late”
or Pentagram “Relentless” in my list of best all time doom albums, but if you
want a modern doom rock album with lots of attitude and overdrive, then this is
one you should check out.
With
the last three tracks clocking in at around four and a half minutes apiece, the
band close the show consistently, albeit using different tempos and approaches
as they go- relatively up tempo, slower dinosaur riffing and melodic-
respectively. The yowling vocals are more Reagers
than Wino, the sound is never less
or more than over-driven and fuzzy and the whole thing works well. It is an
improvement on their debut and sets the band up very well for album number
three and a possible rise through the ranks of doom. When are they coming to
the UK?!
“Street
Reaper”
is available here
