Lord Of The Grave - Raunacht

One of my favorite CD's at the moment has to "Ranuacht" by Switzerland's "Lord Of The Grave". 5 Tracks of pure Stoner Doom glory in the tradition of bands like Sleep,Electric Wizard and Saint Vitus,this CD is kind of short even though one track is over 17 minutes long.The album opens with the fuzz drenched sonic Doom of "Holy Vitus" that highlights the hypnotic riffing of Robert C who also handles the vocals.The vocals are a little buried in the mix but it seems to add to the hypnotic quality of the music.This first track begins the album in a somewhat plodding way and some may say one of the other tracks might have been a better choice for a opener but this tune is one of my favorites on the album. "Ghosts Of The Pyre"follows in a similar fuzzed out fashion with moaning vocals with a layered riff sound,it is easy to forget this band is just a 3 piece.The sound is old school,i don't know for sure but this sounds like vintage equipment cranked to the max with old tube amplifiers working into overdrive.The third track "Lord Of The Grave" is 7 minutes of the same but without getting boring in anyway at all,its really just a continuation of the feel set up in the previous 2 songs.The real highlight is "Bardo"( nothing to do with the Obsessed song ) which leads into the title track."Raunacht" which is a seamless 17 minute plus epic that defies its running time,a real achievement to make something so long,so brutal without it becoming mundane or predictable."Raunacht" means "Rough Night" in English and this music is rough but it is also some real fuzzy goodness.Pity the album seems so short or maybe i enjoy it so much it just seemed that way. 9/10

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