Release
date: May
17th
2019. Label: Hellmouth/Electric
Valley Records.
Format: CD/DD/Vinyl
The
Lesser Key
– Tracklisting
1.Gehenna
04:51
2.House
Of Ba'al 05:05
3.Scepter
Of Ice 05:12
4.Basilisk
03:38
5.Heaven's
Gate 03:27
6.L'
Inferno 02:47
7.The
Curse 04:03
8.In
Effigy 04:36
9.The
Lesser Key 04:21
Members
Adam
Luca
Marco
Medina
Devin
Fields
Chris
Kobialka.
Review
The
Lesser Key is the new album from Mother Iron Horse and it’s a
groove laiden throwback to seventies Hard Rock, Doom Metal and Heavy
Metal sounds. The album has a creepy occult rock/metal feel to it as
well though the band aren’t afraid of embracing their Stoner Metal
roots as well.
Inspired
by bands such as Motorhead, High On Fire, Black Sabbath, Uncle Acid
and Electric Wizard. There is a quite a lot of different styles of
music on this album but Mother Iron Horse manage to create a trippy
and heavy vibrant sound. The album is quite raw in places but the
production is still superb that allows the band to show off their
undeniable talent from start to finish.
Opening
song – Gehenna – is a creepy and vintage sounding song with
Mother Iron Horse playing a familiar style of Doom/Stoner Metal music
though putting their own creative spin on the song. The music is
heavy from the start and the Sabbath style riffs has a few
psychedelic elements lurking in the background. The vocals have a
real menacing presence to them and even though the vocals do feel
slightly out of place at first, however they become ever more
confident as the song progresses to its natural conclusion.
Second
song – House Of Ba’al – has a High On Fire influence with the
heavy guitars being the main driving force of the song. Mother Iron
Horse experiment with their sound on this song and this song does see
the band become ever more confident especially when they play a more
psychedelic blend of Doom/Stoner Metal on certain parts of the song.
Third
song – Scepter Of Ice – is one of the standout songs on the album
as the band play a fast-paced and furious blend of Heavy Metal, Doom
Metal and Stoner Metal with a twinge of Heavy Sludge Rock appearing
that keeps the whole mood vibrant and quite angry at the same time.
The vocals are excellent and have more of an OTT style compared to
the other songs on the album.
Fourth
song – Basilisk – carries on the progressive vintage sound but
with a slightly more modern style of music holding everything
together. The song does take time to fully get moving along but once
it does Mother Iron Horse impress with some epic guitar solos and
intense lyrics to match as well. Perhaps one of the gloomiest and
angriest songs held on the album.
The
second half of the album is where the heaviest riffs appear
especially on songs such as Heaven’s Gate, The Curse, In Effigy and
The Lesser Key. Though L’Inferno was a cool acoustic song that
reminded me of Ancient VVisdom and their blend of Semi Acoustic Doom
based Rock. The song has a haunting psychedelic quality to it that I
wanted to hear more of.
The
music is more varied on the second half of the album and I admire the
use of different genres and sounds that Mother Iron Horse adapt for
these songs with Heaven’s Gate and The Lesser Key being the best
tracks contained on the album.
The
Lesser Key is a stellar release from Mother Iron Horse and will
please just about everyone who is a fan of Doom/Stoner Metal.
Excellent
and Highly Recommended.
Words
by Steve Howe
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