SUBROSA (UT) — No Help For The Mighty Ones (review)

SUBROSA (UT) — No Help For The Mighty Ones album cover Album · 2011 · Doom Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
Warthur
Many metal bands include one or two female members, but few have a majority-female lineup - and many of those seem to make a gimmick out of that (either by their own initiative or - as I suspect is more likely - at the prompting of their labels). SubRosa are a welcome exception, presenting a lineup on No Help For the Mighty Ones consisting of three women (including the two band co-founders Rebecca Vernon and Sarah Pendleton) but, in their material and in terms of the marketing, making this seem as though this is the most natural thing in the world rather than a quaint novelty or an opportunity to turn the female band members into eye candy.

Instead, the band offer an intriguing brand of folk-tinged Sabbath-inspired doom metal. Like Blood Ceremony, the band have hit on a way to do the whole stoner 70s revival thing without resorting to rote mimicry of past bands and fruitless ploughing of over-trod furrows by looking at the early 1970s music scenes and thinking "Which musical trends from back in those golden days could have fruitfully crossed over, but didn't?" In the case of Blood Ceremony, it was Sabbathy metal with Jethro Tull-influenced flute prog, whilst SubRosa mash up Sabbath with British folk rock in the tradition of the likes of Fairport Convention, Lindisfarne and Pentangle. The a capella version of the folk standard House Carpenter makes this especially apparent, but the twin violin action (!) of Sarah Pendleton and Kim Pack backing up Rebecca's powerful Tony Iommi riffs give all the tracks on here a unique flavour. It's not an instant classic but it certainly shows a lot of potential, and I look forward to see what they do in the future.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Deviance Deathcore
ASHES INTO BLOOD
Buy this album from MMA partners
Equilibrium Atmospheric Sludge Metal
BESRA
Buy this album from MMA partners
Tension Between Rot And Genesis Sludge Metal
ANTHESIS
Buy this album from MMA partners
Recycle Brain Crust Punk
C.P.G
Buy this album from MMA partners
Cartography Of The Mind Deathcore
TETHERED
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

Besra – Unsullied (Music Video)
BESRA
Bosh66· 9 hours ago
Tethered - Breathe (Official Video)
TETHERED
Bosh66· 1 day ago
Saltwound - Walking The Blade (OFFICIAL VISUALIZER)
SALTWOUND
Bosh66· 1 day ago
Saltwound - The Negative (OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO)
SALTWOUND
Bosh66· 1 day ago
Saltwound - Drowning feat. Taylor Barber (OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO)
SALTWOUND
Bosh66· 1 day ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed