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FRIENDS OF HELL
Friends Of Hell

Rise Above (2022)
Rating: 8/10

When I heard this record was in the pipeline there was a buzz in my soul in spite of being concerned that members Tas Danazoglou (ex-Electric Wizard) and Albert Witchfinder (ex-Reverend Bizarre) might just be on another dopo-drenched kick.

Thankfully, this self-titled debut platter – the band named after the classic 1983 Witchfinder General album – is a straight-up cauldron of stripped down doom metal that conjures up images of classic Pentagram, Candlemass et al as opener ‘Out With The Wolves’ rolls with claps of thunder, riffage and percussive stabs.

Okay, so it’s all Black Sabbath down to the wire, but it sure does make a change to hear some authentic no frills doom metal instead of all this cheesy occult weed-cum-wizard crap where band’s spend more time on album cover design than actual musical content.

The snarling, whining vocal croons add extra edge to the likes of the monolithic ‘Shadow Of The Impaler’ and doom-spangled stodge of ‘Into My Coffin’, while the grey booming clouds of ‘Friends Of Hell’ writhe in slo-mo solitude, where the drawn out vocal cries are mournful commands of gloom.

Elsewhere, ‘Orion’s Beast’ wails like some crusty Black Widow off-court, the ridiculously titled ‘Gateless Gate’ trudges ominously, and ‘Belial’s Bell’ matches it for evil oozing. But pluck any bloodied feather from this nine-track affair and you’ll be rewarded with nugget after nugget – chunky, stark rolling doom, whether in the form of the Sabbathian traipse of ‘Evil They Call Us’ or the closing chimes of ‘Wallachia’, a six-minute expression of aching doom.

Yep, it’s doom, doom, doom and gloom, but in the way it should be done. So come my fanatics and join the circle of the Friends Of Hell.

Neil Arnold

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