Hearses have been my
obsession for a long time. No, I am pretty much serious about it.
Having been a fan of 70-s Mafia movies since my early childhood I
have always adored the funeral processions involving these gloomy
vehicles and dreamed about procuring one for quite long time.
However, it was not until the emergence of Iron Hearse that hearses
received the credit they truly deserve, and it is exactly this type
of hearse that received most of my attention afterwards.
Irion hearse
takes its origin back in 2001, when 3 school friends from Wiltshire
apparently obsessed with hearses as much as I was started to rehearse
in the dilapidated shed. Drawing inspirations from the legends like
Obsessed, Sleep, Electric Wizard and Black Sabbath these guys
introduced the hearse –worshipping cult into the doom community.
Several line-up changes, especially in terms of drummer section, had
threatened the integrity of the band in a couple of occasions, but
the hearse continued to roll the coffins to the burial grounds
nonetheless.
Since then the hearse embarked on a slow and heavy
ride, releasing a self- titled demo in 2003 and “Ruins of
Doom” demo in 2004. Next year brought us band’s first EP
“Peddle the Metal”, but it was not until the year of
2006 that Iron Hearse received first really serious load of coffins
with first self-titled full-length. The release was a pure Doomy
Stoner Rock worshipping, reminiscent of a more rock oriented songs of
the original purveyors such as Black Sabbath and Pentagram. Above
that, the band successfully incorporated some bluesy influences into
their songs pushing this type of music much further than many of the
counterparts however still appealed to the standards of the genre and
steered clear of drowning their songs in drone or any other type of
bad-ass heavy seriousness.
Having unloaded the coffins on this
positive note, the hearse continued to throttle further along the
gloomy highway with the next stop at “Lunar Funeral “graveyard,
which accidentally became the moniker which the band had chosen for
the next pile of coffins which was unloaded in 2010. Same year,
split with fellow American doom-rockers Leather Nun saw the light of
the day (or dark of the night he –he) after which the hearse took 2
years of maintenance and overhaul the result of which we could see on
the Live at Doomsday IV DVD and will continue to marvel while
digesting their sophomore effort “Get In The Hearse” Released
on March the 1st via Snake Mountain Recs.
Here again we are
immediately drawn into the onslaught of riffs, albeit this time there
is more catchier touch to the songs as becomes obvious from the
first sections of the album opener “Wolf Clergy”. What
immediately came to notice during the first spin were amazing solo
guitar sections courtesy of Grant Powell, who also handles vocals
with a gruff, biker-style delivery which also stretches to almost
Sean Harris territory at times.
The fuzzy rhythm section was not
left behind as well as it continued to flow throughout the rest of
the song however solo part was the thing which I craved for more
after the first spin. Next one, “Slow and Heavy Ride”,
pretty much lives up to its name as it sets the tone for what to
expect next with its mid-tempo heavy as hell but at the same time
groovy and melodic riffage. The ride is only 3:37 minutes long but
everything sounds just right and it is definitely good that these
guys decided not to overextend the songs with monotonous and
repetitive riffs as many of their counterparts tend to do.
Having
got into the hearse on a slow and heavy ride for a couple of spins, I
ventured further along the highway with the next stop at the “Vessel
of Astaroth.” This piece is not much different from what the
previous song was offering as it is built around the same mid-tempo
heavy riffs with lush solos interfering with the flow of the song. A
section build upon the Paranoid-meets-Children of the Grave (early
Black Sabbath era) is dominating the eardrums over the last minute
of the songs and feels straight to the point even after a number of
spins.
“Hydra’s Children”, the fourth coffin loaded in
the hearse, adheres to the tradition of the previous song. Starting
with the Saint Vitus –styled riffs the hearse picks the pace once
the 1:30 mark is passed and further punishes our eardrums with
intense onslaught of straightforward but heavy as fuck goodness.
Next
parking zones at “Ain’t No New Thing” and “Orion’s
Sword “do the right job, but it is the last two spots where the
Iron Hearse unloads the heaviest coffins. “Black Sermon”
is the 7-th coffin and it is definitely heavy as it weighs above 5
minutes. This song distinguishes itself from the previous ones there
is much doomier feel to it. It could have been easily predicted as
the name is self-explanatory to some extent. To tell you the truth,
this one saw my head banging most over the course of the entire ride.
I enjoyed it for as much as 4 times while these words were being
written. And finally, the hearse unloads “The Ultimate Atomic
Man”, the last and the biggest coffin the hearse has offered so
far. It weighs 5:48 minutes and delivers top-notch grooves which
initially sound much in the vein of the second song “ Slow and
Heavy Ride” however evolve into pummeling dose of HEAVY-AS–SAINT-VITUS–MULTIPLIED-BY-10–SABBATH goodness closer
towards the end.
To sum everything up,
Iron Hearse has successfully reached destination. All of you who
crave for good doom rock in the vein of Saint-Vitus, Angel Witch,
Obsessed and off course Black Sabbath should grab this one
immediately. A brilliant sound track for what looks to be a cold and
sleazy March)
8.5/10
(Reviewed by Den)
