Reviews: Spellbook, Tomorrow's Rain, Crimson Sunsets, Winter's Verge (Reviews By Matt Bladen)

Spellbook: Magick & Mischief (Cruz Del Sur Music)

We throw the term 'Sabbath Worship' around a lot in this blog, like many reviewers and even labels, it has come to mean any band that blends occult doom, stoner and proto-metal, well if there was any phrase to describe Pennsylvania band Spellbook it would be 'Sabbath Worship' I mean the influence of Osborne, Iommi, Butler and Ward is so pronounced hear that on Ominous Skies you'd be forgiven if you thought it was a Masters Of Reality outtake. Formerly known as Witch Hazel they released three records but this is their first under the new moniker they have embraced a much more classic sound with elements of Purple and BOC but mainly it's the Brummie originators of heavy metal that truly weave their magick over this record. 

From the grooves of Not Long For This World to the thumping percussion and bass rumbles of Motorcade you can't help but think of massive crosses and white fringed jackets. At a mere 8 songs long it's very much in the 'retro' vein and while the occult rock vibe is very much en vogue at the moment *coughs* Ghost *coughs* Spellbook have just that little bit more too them especially as this record draws to a close, Amulet:Fare Thee Well is much more melodic and in a hard rock vein while the opening of Dead Detectives is a jazz influenced Film Noir detective thriller that runs to over 10 minutes and sounds like it could be something from an Ian Gillan fever dream. It's certainly an odd way to finish things off but it definitely gives you a feeling that Spellbook could very much move away from the 'Sabbath Worship' tag with their next album, all they need to do is embrace the prog and their Magick & Mischief could work it's way to a wider audience. 7/10      

Tomorrow's Rain: Hollow (AOP Records) 

Tomorrow's Rain come from Israel and in the last 2 years they have toured with Paradise Lost, Kreator, Tribulation, Swallow The Sun, Draconian, Rotting Christ and Orphaned Land, honing their powerful, maudlin style of death/doom with some of the best in the business. Hollow is their debut record and it's very much in the traditional doom/death style of the bands they have toured with featuring guttural vocals (more on them later) and a down-tuned riffs but also lends an ear to 80's Goth rockers such as The Mission and The Sister Of Mercy. The members of Tomorrow's Rain have no strangers to the Israeli metal scene their major band before this being the more Gothic tinged Moonskin but on Hollow they move things up a notch bringing music that you won't want to listen to on a sunny day, I mean any album that features a cover of The Weeping Song by Nick Cave with Kobi Farhi (Orphaned Land), Anders Jacobsson (Draconian) and Lisa Cuthbert (The Sisters Of Mercy) contributing vocals is not for people of a nervous disposition. 

Now this isn't the only song that features guest performances, in fact only Tree and A Year I'd Like To Forget (pretty much 2020 in a nutshell) are the only songs without extra musicians but elsewhere you get turns from the king of misery Aaron Stainsthrope (My Dying Bride), the gloomy In The Corner Of A Dead End Street has Gregor Mackintosh (Paradise Lost), Sakis Tolis (Rotting Christ) and Kobi Farhi who also appears on the heavy Into The Mouth Of Madness which is a tribute to Warrel Dane that also features Jeff Loomis who co-wrote it. There are brief moments of levity but mostly the clouds of despair and despondency hang low over this album as Misery Rain brings Fernando Ribeiro (Moonspell) and Mikko Kotamaki (Swallow The Sun) and the more direct title track has Speticflesh's Spiros Antoniou grunting on it juxtaposed with the fragility of Shlomi Brach. Hollow is an album that begs to be played numerous times to let it's black orchid unveil petal by petal, harrowing (Trees) and magical in equal parts, Tomorrow's Child are ones to watch in the death/doom scene. 8/10

Crimson Sunsets: Sic Semper Tyrannis (Self Released)

Yet more death/doom, this time from Athens Greece. Sic Semper Tyrannis roughly translated to "Always Governed By Tyranny" (ain't that the truth) is Crimson Sunsets debut album which has been a long time coming, the band formed in 1994 but split up in 2002, two of the members forming death metal band Slavebreed. After 17 years they decided to reform and consolidate the depressive heavy metal they started out with into this debut. Unlike Tomorrow's Dream there are no guests here just the four members of the band playing some ear bending low slung heaviness with riffs that shift from the grunting thick distortion of the title track to the throbbing We Happy Few that has some haunting clean vocals that gives you hints of My Dying Bride and Paradise Lost. 

Their music is quite politically/personally motivated with subjects like depression and corruption featured as the band add some NOLA-like groove to Ravens as they add battering power to Inglorious Fate but they also really slow things down on the all-encompassing Halls Of Extinction. There's not sign of rust here, refroming in 2017 has meant that Crimson Sunsets have focussed very much on making this the best death/doom album they can and they have hit the nail on the head, Sic Semper Tyrannis doesn't attempt to reinvent the genre but rather deliver it with guts and power. It's been a long time coming but worth the wait. 7/10

Winter's Verge: The Ballad Of James Trig (Pride & Joy Music)

Winter's Verge have been flying the flag for Cypriot metal since 2003, The Ballad Of James Tig is their seventh album and is nautical/pirate themed conceptual record written in conjunction with renowned local author and playwright Frixos Masouras, it's an ideal way for Winter's Verge to show off their cinematic/theatrical style of symphonic metal. I've always mentioned the band in the same breath as Sonata Arctica, Stratovarius and Serenity due to their massive use of keys (Stavry Michael) and folky/orchestral elements on top of the galloping rhythm section of Miguel Trapezaris on bass and Danny Georgiou on drums. The six piece are one of the most successful Cypriot bands and it's clear to see why this is on The Ballad Of James Trig as their songwriting has an epic feel to them. 

Tracks such as Dead Reckoning bringing the dual guitar power from Deniel Pavlovsky and Savvas Parperi who trade off throughout as it moves into some plaintive piano taking things in to the massive folky ballad Timeless which is a gothic styled duet between George Charalambous and opera singer Teodora Stoyanova Freya who reappears on the more direct and faster I Accept and The Sea. As I said the musical style here suits a conceptual record and The Ballad Of James Trig has a fantasy based storyline that is ripe for the sprawling musical palette here. I will say there a probably a few too many ballads on this record meaning that pacing wise is probably not as immediate as it could be, and most of the music here is fairly standard too. Still Winter's Verge have been doing this long enough that this album will be lauded by their fans as it is a slick symphonic metal record performed by a band of veterans, that is a little overblown, even lacklustre at times. 5/10