Release Date: June 27th 2026. Record Label: Self Released. Formats: DD
Black Sabbathory - Tracklist
1.Hasheeshian Tomb 09:19
2.Black Sabbathory 02:51
3.Streets Of The Damned 09:34
4.Creeper In The Crypt 04:12
Members
Adam Asquith - Vocals
Jimmy Long - Bass
Luke Thelin - Drums
Tom Clements - Guitar
Review
Black Sabbathory is the debut release from Doom/Stoner Metallers Ritual Smoke who are made up of members of the bands ORME and MORAG TONG. The band are creative descendents of bands such as Electric Wizard, Sleep and Black Wizard with a sludgier and distorted fuzzier sound developing from the epic opening track Hasheeshian Tomb. The vocals are clean based but lead vocalist Adam Asquith offers a style that moves between gritty delivery and a full on aggressive CAVEMAN style that gives the whole record a deep meaningful presence.
The music moves along at a fast pace with Ritual Smoke playing a genuine and turbo charged style of AMPLIFIED HEAVINESS that does have raw production sounds keeping things grounded. The music does have a vicious Psychedelic environment that’s compounded by that sludgy WEEDIAN groove that throws Ritual Smoke into long drawn out progressive melodies. The record is inspired mostly by the Nineties and Noughties underground scene with the lyrics being what you expect from a record such as this.
Second track Black Sabbathory is a shorter track with slowly played drones and space rock sounds tapping into the Seventies Doom landscape with a freakish and stripped back jazzy atmosphere. The song is wonderfully helped along by an eerie soundclip from the classic 1982 animated fantasy film The Flight Of Dragons. I thought it was Conan The Barbarian at first but I was way off. The song is quite Prog Rock based with Ritual Smoke breaking the song down into different musical structures with SONIC experimentation allowing the music to be quite heavy and powerful whilst keeping a low-key delivery compared to the other tracks on the record.
Third track Streets Of The Damned is pure ELECTRIC WIZARD riff-worship and that’s no bad thing especially when Ritual Smoke adds violent Occult and Horror themes into the mix. The music is played at a deliberate LOW & SLOW musical charge with the bone crunching rhythm section allowing this to be the heaviest, violent and most surreal tracks on the record. The DRONE aspect is another highlight which only adds to the creepy surroundings that Ritual Smoke thrust upon the listener. The song works best when Ritual Smoke fully go all in with their OVER THE TOP theatrical style that feels like what UNCLE ACID and ELECTRIC WIZARD would sound like if they ever collaborated together.
The final song Creeper In The Crypt is an Ambient/Instrumental track that delivers a more restrained experience with Ritual Smoke performing more of a song that feels left out from a classic horror movie soundtrack. The echoes of Occult, Doom, Psych and Electronica puts this track closely to the likes of GOBLIN and JOHN CARPENTER with its gloomy psychedelic and cathartic undertone.
Black Sabbathory is a highly intriguing and well executed record that should allow Ritual Smoke gain some much needed momentum within the underground scene. With superb production values, Black Sabbathory is different style of Doom/Stoner Metal that pulls off a lot of different musical surprises along the way that ultimately leave you wanting more.
Words by Steve Howe
Links
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