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MONSTERS FLESH
Black Magic

Sef-released (2022)
Rating: 7.5/10

Lord Charlie is the Spaniard behind this nightmarish creation; a sludge soup of gloopy doom that evokes images of misty swamps hidden with cover art that conjures up thunderous episodes of classic 1980s cartoon TV series He-Man And The Masters Of The Universe!

To quote the press release for this eight-track slog-fest, “Black Magic is the entrance to a swampy-doomed world in which different races and factions (vampires, witches, werewolves, the mighty monks of the Snake Order) that have been fighting eternally for control of the planet are suddenly forced to fight together against a common enemy, the Skeleton King”. The concept is mind-boggling, but it certainly adds to the already kaleidoscopic nature of this psychedelic yet heavyweight foray into the colourful imagination of Lord Charlie who ominously booms out his warnings over a myriad of swirling psych-riffs.

Yeah, it is at times familiar in its design, after all there are only so many stoned riffs one can muster from the ol’ grey matter, but this is an infectious heap of drudgery that unravels in glorious fashion from the stormy cracks of ‘Soldiers From Hell’, through to the worming mammoth riffage of ‘Poison Peaks’, into the sun-baked rolls of the title track, while shivering in its own suspense at ‘Rotten Apples’.

There’s enough flavour here to allow you to escape what could have been just another stoner / sludge record – most of which I abhor – but Monsters Flesh, whilst cumbersome, is effective in its sluggish glimmers. The organ spice on ‘Bloody Moonlight’ and the gargantuan fuzz of ‘Snake Eyes’ are examples of how Lord Charlie, and whatever cult members he roped in along the way, are capable of fat, well-rounded yet not entirely boring slog-fests.

I dunno, maybe it’s knowing about Charlie’s concept of the Skeleton King or the Candlemass-type drone of closer ‘Midnight Psalm’ which raise the hackles, but Black Magic maintains a tension throughout which convinces the listener that the “non-death creature” known as the Skeleton King is waiting in the wings once the needle lifts.

Neil Arnold

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