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░ ██ ██ Artist: Coven ██ ██
▓ █░░ ■█ Album: Worship New Gods █■ ░░█
■ █▓▀ █ Year: 2012 █ ▀▓█ ░
█ ▓ Rel. Date: 2016-01-17 ▓ █
▒ ▒ Genre: Heavy Metal ▒ ▒
█▄ ░ Label: Shadow Kingdom Records ░ ▄█
░ █▄ ░ Source: CD ░ ▄█
░ █▓ Type: Reissue ▓█ ░
▓ █ Quality: VBR, 44.1kHz, Joint Stereo █ ░ ▓
▓ █ █ ░ ▓
▄ ■ ■ ▓ ■
░█ █░ ▀
█ This is not the thrash Coven from Seattle, nor the █
█ Chicago occult prog rockers most active in the █
█ late 60s and 70s, but a heavy/doom act out of █
█ Michigan (also known as Coven 13) which is finally █
█ seeing the CD issue of its seminal 1987 album █
█ Worship New Gods through Shadow Kingdom Records 25 █
█ years after it's original release. Naturally, the █
█ debut sounds as old as it looks, but I think for a █
█ good number of fans in this niche, its antiquity █
█ will only serve in its favor, as it conjures forth █
█ a genuine nostalgia for the 80s efforts of bands █
█ like Cirith Ungol, Pentagram, Manilla Road and St. █
█ Vitus. Sword and sorcery spent in harmonious, █
█ atmospheric flesh with plenty of variation to keep █
█ the listener hooked as if he/she were smoking a █
█ bone while deeply immersed in a Fritz Leiber or █
█ Michael Moorcock story. █
█ In truth, Coven covered a rather broad swath of █
█ terrain with this record, from the pure Black █
█ Sabbath digs and grooves of opener "Riddle of █
█ Steel" to the Viking arena-punk of "Ruler", which █
█ almost sounds like it was being played at some █
█ open air festival to an army of Saxon dogs, █
█ churning chords below the appreciable bombast of █
█ vocalist David Landrum whose jilted inflection █
█ carries all the way to the rafters of the stadium. █
█ Songs like "Burial Ground" provoke a total war █
█ mentality, with great, reflexive drumming and █
█ nasty chord curves worthy of the barrows and █
█ crypts the title promises, while others like █
█ "Threshold of the New" ride aloft a surge of pure █
█ NWOBHM thunder interlaced with off the hinge lead █
█ sequences and bumper car bass lines that seem like █
█ a byproduct of the 70s more so than the 80s. █
█ What's more, the level of reverb and the raw, █
█ lower volume of the guitars tend to immortalize █
█ the hooks and drums throughout; by today's █
█ standards, of even by the higher budget acts of █
█ the 80s, Worship New Gods might seem amateurish, █
█ but these very flaws lend it a timelessness that █
█ transports the listener back to the grounds of its █
█ fertile creation. █
█ Landrum can prove a bit much in places, as his █
█ delivery is constantly wavering and in a few spots █
█ marginally out of pitch, but overall I think its █
█ imperfection too lends the record a distinct █
█ character which it might not otherwise enjoy with █
█ a tighter, polished performance. It says a lot █
█ that, after 25 years and no other prior exposure █
█ aside from perhaps a Youtube clip, this album can █
█ work its charms on someone so new to it, and even █
█ when it descends into total clamor like the █
█ freakout mid-"Loki" in which Landrum gets perhaps █
█ a little too 'in character', I found myself █
█ drifting back to memories of caverns and castles, █
█ witches and warlocks, heroes and rogues, dragons █
█ and damsels, and enjoyed its warped miasma of █
█ doom, early British 80s hymns and punk hysteria. █
█ If you're one to unlock the crypts and mine the █
█ dustbins and annals of obscurity within the trad █
█ metal spectrum, Coven's debut deserves a first █
█ listen, or a second listen; it's as fuming as a █
█ mythic bull ready for the charge, but also █
█ frivolous and fun. Do you read Robert E. Howard █
█ stories and listen to Samson, old Maiden or █
█ Spartan Warrior? This will butter your bread. The █
█ real question is, now that they're active again, █
█ can they follow this up with an equivocal level of █
█ immersion and personality? █
▓ ▓
▒ ▒
░ 1. Riddle of Steel 4:17 ░
░ 2. Wicked Day 6:14 ░
░ 3. Ruler 3:17 ░
░ 4. Kiss Me with Blood 6:00 ░
░ 5. Burial Ground 3:36 ░
░ 6. General's Eye 5:17 ░
░ 7. Jail House 2:32 ░
░ 8. Threshold of the New 4:39 ░
░ 9. Loki 3:26 ░
░ 39:18 ░
░ ▒ ▒
▓ █ ░ ▓ ░
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