I have just about zero insight to offer here, except to say something along the lines of ‘duh, this sounds good.’ Godthrymm play classic British-style doom led by guitarist/vocalist Hamish Glencross, who is exactly the kind of person you’d want out in front of such a project, taking back the reins of the Peaceville era and the deathly ways of Paradise Lost and My Dying Bride. Initial single “Among the Exalted” plays to the darker and more extreme end of the sound, and that leaves me wondering what kind of dramas might play out elsewhere on the debut album, Reflections — if the album art is anything to go by, it might just stay bleak throughout — but hell’s bells that’s heavy and it’s more than enough to turn my head in the direction of the release announcement.

Good to know early 2020 won’t be hurting for doom, and as we come up on 30 years since that era of Peaceville really got going, it’s proof of continuing relevance that bands are still picking up on that style and doing new things with it.

At last. A reason to look forward to Valentine’s Day:

GODTHRYMM: UK Doom Metal Trio Featuring Former Members Of My Dying Bride, Anathema, And More To Release Reflections Debut Via Profound Lore This February; New Track Streaming

UK doom metal trio GODTHRYMM — featuring vocalist/guitarist Hamish Glencross (ex-My Dying Bride, Vallenfyre, Solstice), drummer Shaun Taylor-Steels (ex-My Dying Bride, Anathema), and bassist Bob Crolla — will unleash their debut album Reflections February 14th, 2020 via Profound Lore.

GODTHRYMM was forged in 2017 by Glencross and sees the respected UK metal luminary return to his doom metal roots, creating the music he was known to help forge with Solstice on the legendary New Dark Age album and especially with the heralded My Dying Bride from the 2000 – 2014 time period. Further adding to the GODTHRYMM pedigree is drummer Shaun Taylor-Steels who, after some lineup refining following the band’s A Grand Reclamation debut EP, became the core of GODTHRYMM. In the months to follow, the pair recorded the colossal Reflections full-length. Upon its completion, Glencross and Taylor-Steels added bassist Bob Crolla to the fold making GODTHRYMM a true power trio of doom.

Recorded and mixed by Nathan Bailey and featuring artwork and design by Brian D’Agosta of Gostworks Art (Vallenfyre, War//Plague), with Reflections, GODTHRYMM has unleashed a mammoth slab of heavy, mournful, yet pounding traditional doom that harks back to the classic era of ’90s UK doom/Peaceville Records. A massive step up from their debut EP, Reflections is the result of Glencross taking GODTHRYMM into darker, more melancholic, and towering realms. Through Glencross’ soaring passionate vocals complimenting his powerful riffs along with Taylor-Steels’ thunderous percussion giving the rhythm section that immense and glorious tone, Reflections is a testament to the glory days of the genre while simultaneously making its statement as a new force of modern day doom metal to behold.

GODTHRYMM’s Reflections will be released on CD, 2xLP, and digital formats with preorders to be unveiled in January.

In the meantime, the band has issued the stunning first single “Among The Exalted.” Notes Glencross, “Lyrically, ‘Among The Exalted’ is about desire becoming all-encompassing obsession, manifesting in such a way that yearning and devotion can become a manic and destructive force. Musically, we feel this song is very direct and represents us as musicians and who we are now, whilst also echoing our own history and also the glorious history of the celebrated UK doom scene. Thank you for listening.”

Stream GODTHRYMM’s “Among The Exalted” below.

Reflections Track Listing:
1. Monsters Lurk Herein
2. Among The Exalted
3. The Sea As My Grave
4. We Are The Dead
5. The Light Of You
6. The Grand Reclamation
7. Cursed Are The Many
8. Chasmic Sorrows

http://godthrymm.com/
http://www.facebook.com/godthrymm/
http://www.instagram.com/godthrymm/
http://www.profoundlorerecords.com
http://www.facebook.com/profoundlorerecords
http://www.instagram.com/profoundlorerecords
http://www.profoundlorerecords.bandcamp.com

Godthrymm, “Among the Exalted”

[Click play above to stream The Black Wizards’ Reflections in its entirety. Album is out Aug. 23 through Kozmik Artifactz and Raging Planet.]

Reflections is what it sounds like when a band learns the lessons of their past releases and incorporates them into the next one. The third full-length from Portuguese heavy psych blues rockers The Black Wizards, the seven-track Kozmik Artifactz and Raging Planet-issued outing scales back from the 2LP that was 2017’s self-released What the Fuzz! (review here) to a single 41-minute platter with a structure that seems to maximize the overarching flow and still manage to capture a sense of the breadth in their approach, from fervent boogie rock to bluesy sway and onward into resonant psychedelic drift as it rounds out. This range, coupled with the organic style and songwriting approach from guitarists Joana Brito (also vocals) and Paulo Ferreira and the double-João rhythm section of bassist João Mendes and drummer João Lugatte, helps make Reflections an easy bet to win hearts and minds among the converted, as some of the boogie in What the Fuzz! is drawn down into the taffy-pull psych of “Starlight” and closer “Kaleidoscope Eyes,” the band clearly saving their most immersive vibes for the end of each side, in traditional fashion.

“Traditional fashion” could be seen as a kind of running theme for the album, but Reflections is by no means retro. Given the usage of the title-line in “Kaleidoscope Eyes” — a highlight unto itself — I wouldn’t necessarily think the band intended so when they named the album, but their approach to classic heavy rock and psych and blues and all the rest of the stylistic combustibles melted into their sound is very much reflective. Not an exact emulation in the sense of capturing a “vintage” spirit in the actual listening experience — their scope is way too broad and production way too vast for such a thing — but reflecting those ideas back on themselves in a different form. It begins with opener “Imposing Sun” as Lugatte‘s sticks-on-rim tension and Brito‘s vocals lead into a swirl-laced heavy rocker with layers of backing vocals dug deep into the mix and a forward guitar line that’s like sped-up Monster Magnet doing Hawkwind doing Rolling Stones. The vibrato in Brito‘s voice will be familiar to anyone who heard What the Fuzz! or the prior 2015 debut, Lake of Fire, but as everything seems to be, it’s put here to more mature and accomplished-feeling use.

Side A presents a few fascinating turns. True, it works as shorter songs offset by longer ones — three minutes, six, four, six, goes the tracklisting — but second cut “Outlaws” (6:26) introduces more of the psych-blues spirit, with echo ringing out from Brito over rising-sun riffing and a build of effects wash that leads to an immersive linear progression the payoff for which is a righteous return to the central hook riff. The track is little short of a triumph and a fair enough summary of The Black Wizards‘ encompassing style at its best, but it doesn’t tell the whole tale, which continues with the boogie-down spirit of “56th Floor,” though even that start-stoppery has a sense of space to its guitar and drums and some drift in its second half, asking more questions even as it sees fit to answer a few of them as well. The presumed side A finish is in “Starlight,” which is shorter than “Outlaws” at 6:16, but more drawn out in its unfolding of guitar and more patient in its execution overall, presenting Reflections‘ most atmospheric moment in a departure from the groove-groove-groove of the track prior, because take that, expectation. As the whole-album centerpiece and the transition into side B, its role is vital, and “Starlight” lives up to that without a doubt.

That’s all the better to lead into “Symphony of the Ironic Sympathies,” which is the longest track on Reflections at 7:57 and moves from wah-drenched verses to a tuned-in psych rock explosion in its choruses to a righteous melodic slowdown at its midpoint that moves through an instrumental section and into a spoken preach from Brito that reminds of Colour Haze‘s “Peace, Brothers & Sisters!” as she gains intensity before dropping out as the song begins to draw down. It’s a surprising moment, but not at all out of place, since by that time the flow of the record is broad enough to allow The Black Wizards to go pretty much wherever they want sound-wise. Accordingly, the penultimate “Soul Keeper” touches on All Them Witches-style blues licks and jams itself forward for about the first five minutes before cutting the volume behind the vocals to let their reverb carry the ending as the shift into “Kaleidoscope Eyes” takes hold, guitar, bass and drums introducing the album’s finale with grace that’s by then well established but every bit deserving of the reinforcement it gets.

It isn’t necessarily a surprise that The Black Wizards would save the most expansive moment on Reflections for last — though I suppose there are arguments to be made for “Starlight” in that regard as well — but they deliver the finishing move as a summary of the offering preceding and tie together sometimes disparate turns with a fluidity that lets the listener know for sure there’s been a master plan at work all the while. That too underscores the idea of Reflections as an actual reflection, but in this case, the band reflecting on what they’ve done before and how to bring a new level of accomplishment to their sound. There’s no question they’ve done precisely that, as the full and natural melodies and weight of their material is nonetheless carried with such ease both by them and by anyone who would take on the record to discover where it and the band end up by the time it’s done. The Black Wizards‘ obvious internalizing of their strengths is palpable here, and the paring down they’ve done in terms of runtime has allowed them all the more to bring the songs into focus, which is exactly where they belong.

The Black Wizards on Thee Facebooks

The Black Wizards on Instagram

The Black Wizards on Bandcamp

Kozmik Artifactz website

Kozmik Artifactz on Thee Facebooks

So, I don’t want to sound like Captain Jaded or anything, but it doesn’t always happen to me that I put on a preview track, video, teaser, whatever and then immediately feel the impulse to check out the entire record. And yet, here I sit, having just made my way through The Black Wizards‘ new clip for “Kaleidoscope Eyes” and needed to put on their new record, Reflections, pretty much as quickly as I could open the folder on my desktop. Regrets? Not a one. The third album from these Portuguese ministers of heavy takes something of a more psychedelic turn than I recall for their boogie-laced 2017 offering, What the Fuzz! (review here). They’ve also trimmed about 25 minutes off the runtime, no doubt at least in part to be able to fit it on a single LP, which Kozmik Artifactz will release on Aug. 23, while Raging Planet handles the CD release.

If you’re feeling up for being similarly convinced, the video for “Kaleidoscope Eyes” follows the PR wire info below, and even if you can’t get your fix right away, there’s always some satisfaction to be derived from a preorder.

Have at it:

THE BLACK WIZARDS release brand new video! Reflections coming August 23rd!

August 23rd will see psychedelic fuzz rockers The Black Wizards return with their brand new album, Reflections. Born in the digital era, these Portuguese rock talents enthrall with an analogue and unique sound of fuzzadelic grooves. Drinking from the same fountains as many of the contemporary bands around, The Black Wizards give a new twist on previously heard tunes and stamp their own personality.

Today the band is sharing with us their brand new video to the psychedelic juggernaut “Kaleidoscope”, taken from The Black Wizards’ upcoming album!

“Kaleidoscope eyes is one of my favorites songs from this record.” Guitarist and vocalist Joana Brito comments. “It’s a psychedelic floating dream song with a very up-bright vibe. For the video, we had the idea of having eyes on it and we did some experiences with Lugatte’s lens and it worked out, so we thought that maybe we could do it ourselves and take it as a new challenge. So then we did it all by ourselves, from capture to edition and it was quite fast but we are proud that we could do it and capture the same nice vibe that you have in the song to the video, we think it fits very well.”

The band exploded on the scene in late 2015 with their debut Lake of Fire, followed by the Fuzzadelic- EP, the sophomore critically acclaimed album What the Fuzz! and numerous tour dates and festival appearances all over Europe. Their live performances are known for being an intense explosion of emotions with lots of soul and of course, a heavy fuzz. The Black Wizards have grown in their sound, they have upped their ante with sonic experimentation without ever losing sight of the core roots having their feet on the ground. The band has learned and archieved a lot, and the time has finally come to present the hotly anticipated, third album: Reflections is like a sunny day and fresh breeze of groovy beats and psychedelia, swaying between sweet moments and massive fuzz deliriums. This record is here to prove more than ever, The Black Wizards are one of the most prolific and promising bands around!

Reflections is set to be released August 23rd on Vinyl with Kozmic Artifactz and on CD plus Vinyl with Raging Planet (including a deluxe edition with a 7”inch Vinyl outakes)!

Album Tracklist:
1. Imposing Sun
2. Outlaws
3. 56th Floor
4. Starlight
5. Symphony of the Ironic Sympathy
6. Soul Keeper
7. Kaleidoscope Eyes

THE BLACK WIZARDS are:
Joana Brito – Vocals & Guitar
Paulo Ferreira – Guitar
João Lugatte – Drums
João Mendes – Bass

www.facebook.com/theblackwizardsband
www.theblackwizards.bandcamp.com
www.instagram.com/theblackwizardsgram
http://kozmik-artifactz.com/
https://www.facebook.com/kozmikartifactz
https://ragingplanet.bandcamp.com/
http://www.ragingplanet.pt/

The Black Wizards, “Kaleidoscope Eyes” official video