Wednesday 22 February 2017

CUSTOM BLACK ~ SMOKE SHALL RISE .... review


There are times in a bloggers life when he think he's got everything mapped out, he sets out a plan on what album/EP he's gonna review next, the one after that and so on, smug in the knowledge that he's got everything covered.... then along comes an album/EP so good all those plans go up in smoke and he knows this album has to be reviewed right here, right now! Custom Black's debut "Smoke Shall Rise" is one such album!


Coming from somewhere between the proto-doom of UK's Black Sabbath and the stonerized classic hard rock of Sweden's Spiritual Beggars ,with a touch of  Grand Magus style heavy metal thrown in for good measure, "Smoke Shall Rise" is an album that'll unite stoners, doomsters and metalheads together under one banner. Custom Black, Josh Acosta (guitar/vocals), Glenn Hall (bass) and Brian Burchfield (drums), create a sound and groove gritty enough for those that like their music a little dirty and fuzzy but one that is also grim and gnarly enough to please those with a penchant for the darker side. From the opening bars of first track "She Rides" the listener is taken on a roller-coaster ride of crunching guitar riffage, scorching solo's, grizzly bassitude and pulverising percussion coated in strong powerful clean vocal tones, that dips and rises through a variety of tempo's and dynamics before reaching its final destination on the deliciously metallic, totally essential grooves of title and closing track "Smoke Shall Rise".
If you like your music a touch gritty, a touch doomy and a whole lot metallic with a groove deeper than the Mariana Trench then "Smoke Shall Rise" is an album you just must check out......

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