Black Hole - Land Of Mystery

Here is a blast from the past, its a re-release of the 1985 album from Italy's Black Hole titled "Land Of Mystery". Its been re-released by the great Black Widow label as a digipak CD, including the original album and "Angel Of Lucifer" and "Crying Puppets" as bonus tracks. Listening to this album for the first time in some 15 years or more bought up some interesting observations, the first one is how Doom Metal as we know it today never really existed till the mid 90's and beyond. If you listen to albums like this one, the early Trouble albums and the like and also 70's bands like Jerusalem, Necromandus and Icecross you soon noticed none of these bands are really Doom Metal. Some follow in the footsteps of Sabbath and are therefore are a bit gloomy but still nothing like the Doom Metal released now days. The other bands are more in a Progressive Hard Rock mold. If we were to class anything slow and gloomy as being Doom Metal, then close to half of all New Wave Of British Heavy Metal bands could be classified as Doom Metal now. Of course genres and the meaning of musical tags changed over time but it seems we have lost sight of what Doom really is. This Black Hole album is another album now given the "Doom Metal" tag and it has plenty of dark elements but its really a mixture of Prog meets early 80's British Heavy Metal but its a awesome album that was ignored at its time of release and still all these years later is underrated.

Given the context of metal in the mid 80's, it is easy to see why this album never made it big, its totally different to the Thrash, Black Metal scene that was exploding at the time. Opening track "Demoniac City" starts off doomy enough, almost in a Gothic-Doom style but the track soon turns into a mid-tempo headbanger just like any number of other early 80's Heavy Metal bands and its the album's weakest track overall. The title track that appears next is cheesy but at the same time is a classic piece of occult/horror hard prog rock similar to Death SS and Paul Chain. It also has a early Goblin vibe, Goblin was a Italian band responsible for many horror movie soundtracks like Dawn of The Dead, Susperia and Zombie. The song has stood the test of time very well in light of the resurgence in horror related bands that is happening these days. The creepy church organ sound, a throbbing bass sound you just don't hear anymore, psychedelic guitar leads and echoey vocals sung in a very thick Italian accent. The main man of Black Hole was Robert Measles, a accomplished musician who was very much part of the whole dungeons and dragons type metal scene of the 80's. One of the main strengths that Black Hole had is the warm production and the atmosphere they created, even Trouble could have only dreamed of making something this eerie sounding.

"All My Evil" features more of those throbbing, almost funky bass lines and the guitar playing from Nicholas Murray contains mysterious and meandering melody lines. Its a little campy in places and the vocals don't help the situation, the singing is very un-even and sounds more like something that would suit early Genesis more than a horror metal band. "All My Evil" is real fun to listen however and if the music doesn't excite you too much you should get a chuckle out of this, even Spinal Tap would be proud of this track. "Bells Of Death" could have been a Death SS cover but its not, a great atmospheric track it is though with some great riffing and melancholic organ work. "Blind Men And Occult Forces" is the next track up and its a masterpiece. Its a proggy, doomy tune with a slithering riff line that builds till you get to the chorus when it pushes you over the edge in a musical kind of hell. It might not sound too dark compared to what gets released now, but this is horrifying stuff for 1985. "Spectral World" is the least heaviest track but easily the most psychedelic, the funky bass lines are back along with some freaky sounding church organ sounds. The final track on the original album was a instrumental titled "Obscurity In The Ethereal House", it starts off with a mid-paced gallop before heading in another spacey, proggy direction. Its a cool way to finish the original album but with the re-release you get two bonus tracks.

"Angel Of Lucifer" is the first of the 2 extra tracks and its alright but sounds a little like a throwaway track that didn't make it to the "Land Of Mystery" album. The song is saved by some great organ work and guitarist Nicholas Murray interesting lead lines which is always changing, twisting and is always very inventive. How this dude didn't become a legend among other guitar players is a mystery to me. The other bonus cut is "Crying Puppets" and its awesome, full of atmosphere with melodic, soaring guitar leads and cosmic energy. When is comes to obscure records from the past that is within the realms of Doom Metal, Black Hole's Land Of Mystery is a no brainer, you must seek it out for a essential purchase. The vocals might take a little to get used to as well as the production, it was recorded in 1985 after all but it has stood the test of time very well indeed. Most other bands from the mid 80's haven't been as lucky as this band, the production is a bit thin but it is still warm at the same time. The musicianship is flawless, even the drumming is exceptional so its only the vocals that might be a sticking point. This is for fans of Paul Chain, Death SS, Goblin and Cirith Ungol and for fans of early Progressive Rock that had a horror-soundtrack vibe to it. Again thanks to the excellent Black Widow label for sending this to me to review, without them i would have forgotten how good this band was and that would have been tragic. On a side note, Black Hole recorded another album is 2000 titled "Living Mask" and then disappeared off the radar forever. That is a shame because the Land Of Mystery album is a essential, long lost obscure classic slab of gloomy, atmospheric Doom Rock. 9/10

Black Widow Records