Black Magical Powers...

Brimstone Coven - Black Magic (2016)

Harken back to 1969.  Doom and gloom was early enough to be refreshing, albeit associated with a lifestyle hellbent on the idea of destruction and filth.  Brimstone Coven would fit perfectly with any forerunners of the genre.  Black Magic is the name of the album at hand and perfectly describes the obsession put into the lyrics.  So fill your bong with whatever you prefer and step into the realm of fairies and black unicorns. 

The band has a half-decade-long story started from guitarist Corey Roth writing the first five songs and recruiting "Big John" Williams for vocals, Andrew D'Cagna on bass and Justin Wood on drums.  These five songs appeared on the band's self-titled debut album, along with five more tracks and seven bonus tracks.  Check that monster out.

Plunging into opening track "Black Magic", we are greeted with demands to gain power to raise an ancient demon, to boil over a cauldron for potions and to complete incantations promised, most likely, from a spell book bought from a traveling blind salesperson in exchange from the purchaser's first-born son.  The following track, "Black Unicorn", to me, seems like a continuation to better understand the black arts mastered with an army of "a thousand demons" at the narrator's beck and call.  "As We Fall" is a strikingly slower song with continuing themes of a dark power, but with the addition of reaching out for wanting to share this new-found power with another.  But the entire time, there's a sense of wondering whether it's right to share it.  The album then delves into a better understanding of magick until the track "The Plague" and its sense of near-regret continues into "Forsaken".  Ending our tale of demons and minor control of the underworld is "The Eldest Tree", and our sights of destruction and doom bleed into the world we physically inhabit.  A reign of terror is sure to follow. 

A fantastic second album with hopefully many more to follow.
~Richard 

For Fans Of; Black Sabbath, Pentagram, Alice in Chains, Coven, Lucifer's Friend

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Under A Spell...

Brimstone Coven ~ II (2013)

There's a fair bit of buzz around these guys at the moment and it'll only take you about a minute of listening to figure out exactly why. Prepare to be cast back to the true heyday of true classic rock, because Brimstone Coven absolutely ooze the stuff form every pour. In fact I've had II on rotation in my car along with about 15 other albums I've been sent this month, and every time one of their tracks kicks in I find myself checking my iPod thinking that I've accidentally dragged a big chunk of 70's rock into the playlist at some point. They've just managed to capture that whole atmosphere and feel down to a tee, to the point where they have more in common with Sir Lord Baltimore's Kingdom Come or Dust's Hard Attack, than any other album I can name from the last 30 odd years. Judging the book by its cover as it were and just going from the artwork alone, your first impressions would be that they're heavily weighted towards the whole occult rock side of things. But having listened to the whole thing a good 15 times or so now, its seldom truth. There's the odd moment when tone does stray towards a Sabbath influence, and there is an evident touch of the early days of doom subtly laid in there, most notably on Lord and Master and The Folly of Faust, but on the whole its too bright to really hold too much of a comparison. It does however hit a sort of uncharted territory in many ways; a sweet spot between Grand Funk Railroad and Pentagram. I know thats a pretty weird middle ground to land on, but I guarantee that when you get to track 5, The Grave, you'll see just what I mean. It's a little eerie, its quite up beat, its pretty surprising and its utterly catchy.
The whole album is an absolute corker, I bloody love it, and if you're like me and grew up on your old man's record collection I'd put damn good money on you really digging it too. You'll be able to satisfy you lust for wax too because our good friends STB Records are dropping this gem at midday (Eastern time) tomorrow! Thats about 5pm GMT, 9am Western, and god knows when, else where in the world.
In their usual awesome style, you've got two beautiful copies to choose from. The Die Hard edition, limited to 50 copied and housed in a gorgeous Egyptian cotton card sleeve with gold leaf print, oh yeah they've seriously pushed the boat out for this one! Or the Sorcerer edition, limited to 125 on cyan vinyl and in a hand screen printed cover. Both versions are absolutely stunning, which ever you decide on you're a winner.
~ Jay

For Fans Of; Sir Lord Baltimore, Elf, All Them Witches, Dust, Doctor Smoke

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Self Titled ($7) • II ($10)

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