Pick any song at random and the first line takes you into some pit of horrible despair or other. “Faith Healer” suggests “they are watching and waiting to grant you escape from the agony of life”. While “The Locust” (a track we’ve previously streamed right here on MV) is reckoning that “he feeds on society’s blessings”.
This is heavy – in all meanings of the word – stuff. So why, then, is “The Oblivion Cycle” so downright marvellous? Well firstly, precisely because it’s bleak. After all you can count on one hand the amount of happy bands that are any good. But it’s actually about much more than that, because if you took the best bits of heavy metal, stoner rock and added a bluesy swagger and a whole heap of nihilism, then what you get out the other side is this right here.
For example “Wings Of Steel” might sound like it’s going to be a Saxon song, the reality, though, is a slamming call to arms, and “Red Eyes” has a Mastodon-like swirl and a driving, thumping riff that hypnotises.
Not a record to outstay it’s welcome either, with nothing too long, “The Oblivion Cycle” changes pace adeptly when it chooses, “Dark Tower” is a wonderful ballad with echoes of Led Zeppelin, and “Never Forget”, which manages to come on like Orange Goblin covering Alice In Chains has both a groove and melody.
– From Maximum Volume Music
Tracklist
- Colossus
- Memories
- Acid Reign
- Dark Tower
- The Locust
- Wings Of Steel
- Faith Healer
- Red Eyes
- Never Forget
- March of The Damned
Purchase
You can purchase this and more from the Ripple Music webstore at: http://ripplemusic.bigcartel.com
