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GLOOMY REFLECTIONS
Oath Of The Paladins

Crypt Of The Wizard (2024)
Rating: 7.5/10

As if one has been joined at ye merry olde inn by chief alchemists Will Spectre (The Wizar’d, Dracula, Tarot, Crypt Vapor) and Lord Gordith (Quest Master), the debut full-length album from Australia’s Gloomy Reflections is the soundtrack to medieval tomfoolery and role-playing magick.

Smoothly presented, Oath Of The Paladins skips and wafts majestically through dappled shades of progressive rock and cosmic 70s nostalgia. Some might say that this is original, but I beg to differ as there’s so much of this retro stuff around. Even so, Gloomy Reflections slip into Hawkwind territory at times, alongside a folkloric, stuffy and almost British hard rock vibe whereby sublime, casual vocals stir beneath layers of equally warm levels of esoterica.

This is the kind of wistful rock one can become consumed by due to its imagery and high level of spiritual well being. A song such as ‘Forged Iron’ sums up the spacey vibe the duo are going for; a psychedelic trip of floating yet sombre croons and otherworldly musical vapours. I guess the only thing remotely metal about the song is the mention of the word “iron”. Other than that there’s a misty 70s vibe, also recalled on ‘In The Age Of Night’ with its Gothic notions and easy access space synths.

Oath Of The Paladins is an album driven by but not dominated by the synths. Instead, they exist as an ample duvet, snuggling up to the warm guitars to allow songs to breathe. At their heaviest, Gloomy Reflections touch upon New Wave Of British Heavy Metal shades with the fluid ‘The Clock Tower’ which is rather mournful in its traipse. Meanwhile, ‘Hallowed Waters’ rumbles like some long forgotten 80s Goth track. The title track however is the duo at its most experimental, shifting towards an 80s video game style of nimble oddness where I envisage those in combat on the cover clanking around that glitching chessboard.

An intriguing album by design, Oath Of The Paladins will be familiar to the retro buffs but more bemusing to those less learned about the mystical powers of decades gone.

Neil Arnold

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