What better way to avoid arguments with egotistical vocalists, bassists who are constantly turning their amps up and drummers who keep putting fills where fills are not meant to go than by doing everything yourself. This is the course of action taken by multi-instrumentalist Jake Lewis for his ongoing project Burn Ritual and its a course that has so far paid dividends with Lewis seeing all of his releases getting favourable reviews from all the right quarters and seeing Burn Ritual's 2018 album "Blood of the Raven" placed at #17 in October's Doom Charts for that year. Burn Ritual is not Lewis' only project, he has also put out a brace of albums under the name Gypsybyrd (a project with Sun of Grey's Freddie Allen on bass) but it is probably Burn Ritual that he is best known for, not because its better than his other work but just simply because it is the one he has been involved with the longest. This year Lewis brings us a new Burn Ritual album in the shape of "Grave Watcher", a collection of occult and mythological tales set against an enthralling backdrop of proto-doomic groove that contains just a hint of Sabbatian swagger in its attack.
"Becoming the Beast" opens proceedings with droning bass and economic but solid drumming creating a platform for fuzz heavy refrains and occasional bursts of searing lead guitar over which hazy melodic vocals tell of transformation and change, this is doom, of that there is no doubt, but it is doom with a lilting, floating quality that feels more hugging than crushing. Next Track "Waiting for the Sun" may share a title with a classic Doors song but that is where any similarities end, this "Waiting for the Sun" is all dank guitar refrains over sinister drum and bass grooves decorated with a vocal that sits just below falsetto, the contrast of these two sets of dynamics creating an eerie and unsettling atmospheric. "Embrace the Flames" follows and is probably Desert Psychlist's favourite track on the album its quiet/loud/quiet dynamics, low key but wholly effective vocals and low walking bass motif's are everything a true aficionado of the doom genre could ever hope for in a song. Title track "Grave Watcher" sees Lewis adding a touch of Ozzy-like nasality to his vocals over a groove that although doomic in flavour also boasts elements of heavy psych and 80's British goth rock while "Black Veil" has somewhat of an Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats vibe about it in that it twins delicious vocal melodies with dank dark guitar tones to create something that you can not only sagely nod along to but can actually hum along with too. Last but one comes "Demons" the song is a little bit different from much that has gone before, its guitar tones are thicker, sludgier and its rhythms are a touch more sedate and plodding all of which is also reflected in its vocal which is harsher and a touch more sneery. For the albums final track, "When the Darkness Comes" Burn Ritual (Lewis) goes into full doom mode, chunky dark guitar and bass tones reverberating out over tight drumming and occasional keyboard flourishes in and around which lilting hazy vocal melodies and bluesy guitar solos are injected.
Jake Lewis IS Burn Ritual and Burn Ritual IS Jake Lewis, one cannot possibly exist without the other. The Texas born musician's love of stoner rock and doom and his interest in horror movies, mythology and the occult are blended together in a sound that is deliciously dank and heavy but never crushing, a sound that is as reliant on its melodies as it is its riffs, both of which more than make their presence felt on "Grave Watcher".
Check it out ...
© 2023 Frazer Jones
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