Bloody Hammers - Lovely Sort Of Death (Album Review)

Release date: August 05^th 2016. Label: Napalm Recods. Format: CD/DD/Vinyl

Lovely Sort Of Death – Tracklisting

Bloodletting On the Kiss

Lights Come Alive

The Reaper Comes

Messalina

Infinite Gaze to the Sun

Stoke the Fire

Ether

Shadow Out of Time

Astral Traveler

Catastrophe

Band Members:

Anders Manga: Vocals, Guitar, Bass

Devallia: Keyboards/Organ

Drums: Dr. Jack Griffin

Review:

Masters of the Dark Occult, Bloody Hammers return with their new album, Lovely Sort Of Death. Their fourth album overall as the band show no signs of changing their outlook on life with their style of gloomy based Occult/Doom/Stoner/Psych Rock. This album has more of an electronic sound and that’s possibly down to Ander's recent solo work being a direct influence.

The album is perhaps Bloody Hammers most experimental and personal album to date as the lyrics are very bleak throughout. Opening track Bloodletting On The Kiss sees the band inject a more world-weary approach to their music. Electronica provides the main backbeat of this song with the Doom/Occult riffs being added at different moments. Anders vocals are more operatic/larger than life compared to previous albums.

It’s cool to see the band experiment with their sound once again. Some people maybe put off by the more Electronic direction of this album but I would say give this a chance as the band create stunning moments of eighties inspired Gothic/Doom/Occult Rock. Second track – Lights Come Alive – is a haunting love song that could have easily came from the classic eighties synth era but the band wisely include familiar moments of haunting Doom/Stoner Rock.

Third track – The Reaper Comes – is a slow-paced almost post-rock driven Doom/Occult Rock love song with the band weaving a magic sinister tale. Though the bleak sombre mood gives way to heavier gloomy riffs towards the end of the song.

Fourth track – Messalina – sees the band return to their familiar earlier doom based sounds. Haunting lyrics, vocals and riffs take you back to the early days of the band. Messalina ends as perhaps one of the best songs on the album.

Other great songs to check out are: Infinite Gaze To The Sun, Ether, Astral Traveler, Shadow Out Of Time and Catastrophe. These tracks show how creative Bloody Hammers can be with their music. They offer the most intense doom and gloom moments on the entire album. You can tell that John Carpenter is once again a direct influence especially with the twisted electronic synth based sounds. None so more on the song – Shadow Out Of Time.

Lovely Sort Of Death is not the easiest album to listen to as you have to be in a certain mood to fully appreciate it. Bloody Hammers have created a dark, twisted and delicious journey into the realm of Occult/Doom/Stoner Rock. Long time fans will go crazy over this album and it will be a welcome addition to their own Bloody Hammers record collection. Excellent and Highly Recommended.

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to Napalm Records for the promo. Lovely Sort Of Death will be available to buy via Napalm Records on CD/DD/Vinyl from August 05^th 2016.

Links:

Official | Facebook | BandCamp

Anders Manga - Hexed (Album Review)

Release date: August 14^th 2015. Label: Self Released. Formats: DD

Hexed: Tracklisting

1.Hexed 04:14

2.The Creeping Flesh 02:58

3.Bloody Revenge 03:03

4.Burn the Black Flame 02:58

5.Ghosts of Victims Past 02:06

6.March to the Altar 03:10

7.Once-over 01:03

8.Drive-In Moonlight 03:32

9.Seer Lays a Hex 01:42

10.I Know Where You're Hiding 02:10

11.Kill the Cult Leader 02:34

12.Depraved are Lurking 02:09

13.Fin 02:46

Bio:

Anders Manga is a producer from Transylvania County, NC. He released his debut album, 'One Up for the Dying' in 2004. His music has been featured in various films and TV shows such as the WB TV show “Vampire Diaries”. He also helms the heavy rock band Bloody Hammers.

Review:

Now this album falls outside the Doom/Sludge/Stoner Metal stuff that I normally promote but I'm reviewing it as it's an album from Anders Manga. Lead singer/guitarist from ace Doom/Occult/Stoner Rock riffsters – Bloody Hammers.

I'll let Anders tell you what this album is all about:

“Anders here from Bloody Hammers. Thanks for your Bloody Hammers support in the past on Bandcamp. As a horror movie fan, in the spring I got the itch to do some electronic synth music inspired by those movies. John Carpenter, Lucio Fulci, Dario Argento... all that awesome stuff from the 80's. I called the collection 'Hexed'

Hexed is a creepy instrumental ride into the darkness with shades of classic horror movie soundtracks. I can really feel the John Carpenter vibe especially with the more electronic/synth based tracks such as The Creeping Flesh and Bloody Revenge.

It's too Anders credit that his music has a disturbing and violent identity of it's own. It's very doomy and gothic in parts and it should appeal to fans within the Doom/Occult Rock movement. It's a shame this soundtrack is for a movie that doesn't exist as Hexed makes you want to see the actual movie. It does transport you back to the 80s where the Video Nasties made their name especially in the UK where I'm from. I remember watching a truckload of violent horror movies when I was a kid and this album brought back some vivid memories from that time.

John Carpenter is one of my fave horror/action directors when I was growing up. Films such as Halloween, The Thing and Escape From New York are considered classics and one thing that made them stand-out was the highly atmospheric scores. Anders succeeds in creating the same vibe on every song.

The synths are pitch-perfect with the gothic/occult rock influence making an appearance on some of the albums later tracks.

If you're in the mood for something different from the usual mix of Sludge/Doom/Stoner Metal then check out Hexed as this is a stunning album with more thrills and chills than today's so called horror movies. Lets hope this album is released on Vinyl in the future as it's the perfect format for an album such as this.

You can buy Hexed on BandCamp Buy Now. Awesome stuff...

Words by Steve Howe

Links:

Official | Facebook | BandCamp | Twitter