The opening song, was a bit of a struggle. I just didn't quite get what it was trying to do. Good heavy guitars, background sound, vocals fine, but is it setting up a cinematic mood album, is it a phantom of the opera type musical story, what's it doing! Weird.
After that, once The Wizzard kick in, enjoyed the rest of the album, which went to a more conventional song format. A band I have never found time for, but I think given the bands I like from a couple decades later, think it was a question of how much, rather than if, I would like this.
Yes, some songs are quite self indulgent. Yes they tend to go on a bit. I have learned to like that, and know how to lose myself in those repeating riffs that move me just with their sheer thickness and musical 'smoke' around them. Like Sleep, Wo Fat, Hermano etc tend to (I accept likely taken from Sabbath), the ongoing cycle of songs like that works on me.
Punctuated then, by the interwoven extravagant guitar blues solos. In some ways, that adds a richness to it. In others, it maybe highlights the repetition more, than just losing a sense of time nodding along to heavy riffs and bass.
The mood is daring, and consistent. Has the doom that again I like, and was noticeable in the Budos band for example. Yet for all the heavy metal origin on display here, I think it is the blues undertone that really makes it work. Warning was my favourite song on the album.
Had a listen to their next couple albums as well. While they are more polished and maybe easier to take in, I am glad GD put this one up. As the debut, there seems a more 'fuck it, try it' attitude to it. Those creases seem ironed out later on, but have a pureness to them.
Overall musically, probably somewhere close to a 7. On it's own, as an album. But then given its likely influence on bands I really like, Kyuss, Brant Bjork's stuff, QOTSA and even the new Greenleaf album I listened just last week, I think I owe it more. Whether it was consciously borrowd, inadvertent or even just opened doors for bands finding audiences for it, got to give it an extra point for that, an overall 8 from me.
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