I asked to review this recently; jumping at the chance to do so (frankly, I'm just so happy to finally hear studio material by Conjurer). I can be quite wary of being asked to review things, or of bands that "farm out" reviews, because usually, if you have to ask for something to be written about, then it's going to be shite, but this is something incredibly special.
Conjurer have been gigging maniacally for a while now, and I think it's safe to say this debut is hotly anticipated. We (Judas Cradle) shared a bill with these guys for our second ever gig, but we had to leave because some piece of shit power metal band were trying to fight us over broken equipment (the venue actually broke it, not us. Safe to say we never received an apology). Luckily the same tour came to my "local" a few days later, sans tubbo power metal, so I was able to actually watch these guys, and I still stand by the statement that Conjurer are the best band to have ever played that venue. Ever. They totally blew me away, and every other band off the bill (no offence intended, of course).
I is no different.
Short version: Conjurer are fucking class.
Long version: I simply floors the competition, and as far as decent debuts go, this is off the fucking chart. Conjurer have their own sound so it's hard to break them down into a string of dropped names to fill out a review (a staple of my writing style hahaha) but if I had to (and I will!) try and piece a picture together outta existing artists I'd say they are like some mad-scientist mix between Converge, Gojira and Neurosis, with a very Anathema-esque over-arching melodic edge; weeping guitar leads meeting crushing heaviness and droning doomery. Raspy, tortured back up vocals act as a foil to the gravel-throated roars of frontman Dan Nightingale.
Favourite track: The closing number, "Frail". All four tracks are beyond strong, but the way this brooding epic culminates never fails to rip my head off; those blasts just coming from fucking nowhere, and the riff is just perfect. It feels like all the misery and torment from every second of each tune previous to this has been building up to this final explosion.
Listen and love! (FYI There are some awesome Conjurer t-shirt designs on the go at the moment, and this fucker just dropped on CD and vinyl thanks to Holy Roar.)
