BLOOD CEREMONY — The Eldritch Dark (review)

BLOOD CEREMONY — The Eldritch Dark album cover Album · 2013 · Heavy Psych Buy this album from MMA partners
5/5 ·
adg211288
The Eldritch Dark (2013) is the third full-length album by Canadian retro rock/metal act Blood Ceremony. This is their first release with new drummer Michael Carrillo. Always a band to have divided opinion on what it is they actually play, no doubt because they sound like they hopped in a time machine from the sixties/seventies and started releasing albums from 2008 onwards. The Eldritch Dark further complicates the classification matter by changing the measures of all the different things going into their cauldron.

I haven't heard their debut self-titled album (2008) but compared to prior effort Living with the Ancients (2011) things are a bit less metal orientated. It may not seem that way at first, The Eldritch Dark is very much recognisable as the work of the same band, but start to dig deep and it quickly becomes apparent that although some may still wish to consider it such, The Eldritch Dark isn't really a doom metal album. Those elements have been stripped back and it really is difficult to fit this album into any metal genre even though their past work is often considered to belong to it. It's still pretty heavy stuff at times but it's more of a hard rock sort of heavy, combined with all the psychedelic, progressive, and folk elements heard in prior work to result in something which is overall best called a heavy psych album. The vibe seems the same between albums, which is definitely a good thing, but the road taken to get there has some different turns in it.

Differences in the overall sound compared to its predecessor aside the quality displayed is of the same high level that Living with the Ancients made me expect from a Blood Ceremony album and even goes one better. The songs take their turns through all the band's different aspects from the rocky, to the folksy and onto the proggy. An early highlight is lead promo track Goodbye Gemini, which is directly followed by the folk ballad Lord Summerisle, in which singer Alia O'Brien is joined on lead vocals by bassist Lucas Gadke. I love Alia's singing but there's some definite chemistry between their two voices so I'd like to hear Lucas singing more in the band. Alia arguably remains the star of this show though providing not just the bulk of the vocals but also the flute and organ, which coupled with Sean Kennedy’s riffs make the Blood Ceremony sound something special.

It takes a great effort to follow an already excellent album with one that is even better, but that's exactly what Blood Ceremony has done with The Eldritch Dark. Retro they may be, but they've more than earned their place as one of the most relevant acts on the scene right now. This is quite the addictive album that's sure to find a place in the collections of rock/metal fans of all ages.

95/100

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven: http://metaltube.freeforums.org/blood-ceremony-the-eldritch-dark-t3228.html)
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

I, the Destroyer Black Metal
SVARTFJELL
Buy this album from MMA partners
A Sonication Technical Death Metal
OBSCURA
Buy this album from MMA partners
Hin helga kvöl Atmospheric Sludge Metal
SÓLSTAFIR
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Cycles of Suffering Black Metal
BURIAL OATH
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Suns of Perdition - Chapter IV: To Shadow Zion Black Metal
PANZERFAUST
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

DAWN OF REVENGE - Sanctuary [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 8 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - Farewell [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 8 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - Curtain of Death - [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 8 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - Vengeance [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 8 days ago
DAWN OF REVENGE - I Need You [official music video]
DAWN OF REVENGE
Bosh66· 8 days 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