Ghost - Opvs Eponymovs

Ghost (or is that Ghost B.C.?) have easily become one of the most over-rated bands in modern rock and metal, and it is sometimes easy for me to forget about their fairly awesome beginnings. It would possibly be super-hipster of me to consider them to have entered the realm of plebs and rocker dads (I played this for my Dad in 2011 and he didn't like it, FYI) but I'm gonna be unprofessional as fuck and just sweepingly generalise that everything Ghost has done Infestissumam onwards is a steaming pile of mediocre shit. As soon as I heard that fucking Abba cover, my relationship with Ghost was over.

Opvs Eponymovs still exists, however. It isn't as if I spin this thing often, but I would have considered myself a fan, and I own this on purple vinyl. I kinda saw it as everything I ever wanted King Diamond to be, and I was initially charmed with the band's image and kooky occult rock songs. On Opvs, Ghost played fun, quirky rock that was as infectious as it was stupefying. Case in point, "The Night Of The Witch", with one of the hammiest choruses ever written, is also one of the greatest things ever put to tape. The same can be said for "Prime Mover", and even "Elizabeth", to a degree. "Genesis" is a fantastic instrumental song and a perplexing closer to the album. 

I play this and remember the good ol' days, as I sit in my rocking chair with my whiskey and my hipster beard. Sometimes I like to think how much money Lee Dorrian has made off this band, but sometimes I can be a pointless asshole. Next!

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Castle - Blacklands

Blacklands is the second album from female-fronted occult metallers, Castle (who have, quite possibly, one of the simplest yet coolest band names ever). Blacklands is more towards the rockier side of doom, rather than falling off the edge into the void of sludge. The cover art here is very striking, and I find myself drawn to it. Despite its quasi-surrealism, it is fairly simplistic, however every time I study it, I pick out little extra details that I did not notice before.

The same can pretty much be said about Castle's doomy occult rock. Throughout the catchiness of the riffs and vocals can be found nuanced little touches that really make all the difference. Female-fronted occult rock was overdone for a while, but this is definitely a stand out band in respect to that. 

Coven - Witchcraft Destroys Minds And Reaps Souls

(Words by Richard Lewis, Doomfinder General)

Coven are one of those bands that time forgot. They are pretty much entirely responsible for creating the occult rock genre (along with Black Widow) and had they been around today they would probably be huge, but since their debut came out in 1969 there was a lot of negativity around their lyrical themes. Instead, they were dropped from their record label and had their debut album taken out of circulation.

The main question with albums like this is are they actually worth listening to or are you just trying to be more elitist than the people around you? Luckily enough, the music more than holds up to the band's reputation. Powered by Jinx Dawson's excellent vocals, Coven cover all the topics that occult rock is still using today - namely witches, satan, demons, satan and witches. The opener "Black Sabbath" creeps and crawls along with a sermon-like quality, "Wicked Woman" gallops along with psychy guitar flourishes and "Pact With Lucifer" shows just how impressive a vocalist Coven have but every song on the album stands out for different reasons.

However, one thing which I think dates the album is the last track. "Satanic Mass" is a 13 minute recording of an actual satanic mass and while I can appreciate that 46 years ago people might have found it scary it just sounds cheesy listening to it today and there is no need for it to be 13 minutes long. But still, since it's just a recording and at the end of the album I don't feel it detracts from the overall quality of the album. Just skip it and enjoy one of the finest rock albums around.

Blood Ceremony - Blood Ceremony

Blood Ceremony's self-titled is one of my go-to feel good "doom metal" records (I use the term doom like that because I find that this isn't miserable enough to fall under the doom tag proper, although it does incorporate a lot of elements from that genre). As mentioned elsewhere on this website recently, my distain for the explosion in female-fronted edgy rock music continues to grow, but let's fuck all that trend-jocking shit for a minute and focus on Blood Ceremony.

Imagine mixing Black Sabbath, Jefferson Airplane and an enormously illegal quantity of opiates at a smoky blues club, and you're on the right track here. Songs about witches, covens, toads, wizards and smoking "black drugs from Saturn's bong" are abound, as is trippy flutework, masterful guitar sweepery and enough synthesizer alchemy to make Gary Numan prick up his ears. The opening song, "Master Of Confusion" is totally classic, and should be on the playlist of anyone with an inclination towards this type of stuff. The flute solo on "I'm Coming With You" is insane, and my favourite track is "Hop Toad", which is also mainly flute-driven.

I'm lucky enough to have caught these guys (and gal) live twice in the last 3 years, and I wouldn't hesitate in a heartbeat to go and watch them perform again. Stellar stuff! You can stream this on Spotify, buy it on CD or even take out a second mortgage to buy the Rise Above vinyl version, if you have a big enough hipster beard to qualify for that.

Now, onto those "black drugs"....

Blues Pills - Bliss

Boy am I glad I bought this cheeky little 10" when I did (edit: I've now traded it for a copy of Swans' Filth). Due to Blues Pills' ever-blossoming popularity this original 4-track EP is now worth a bloody fortune (for a 10"). The difference between Blues Pills and a gazillion other "revival", "retro" or (dare I say it) "occult rock" acts (that phrase makes me physically sick) is that when Blues Pills first showed up on my radar they were the only ones who seemed even remotely genuine and weren't just jocking a trend of female-fronted slightly-heavy rock bands that had songs about the devil. Because y'know, that's edgy as fuck, amirite?

I don't want to sound like a hipster but the more popular Blues Pills get the less I like them - just check out the super polished sheen on their new record. Bliss though, is a rougher, more intimate recording of true rock music bursting with passion, soul and well, songs about the devil. Bliss balances the right amounts of psychedelic without becoming self-indulgent, and balances the right amount of pop digestibility, without having the songs become too predictable or boring. 

As much as I like to laugh at people with flowers in their hair who think we're still in the sixties, this record is fucking fantastic. It makes me wanna smoke a bunch of weed and drive a convertible through the fucking desert. Play it!