| In the rectory of the bizarre reverend (CD) | 2002 | Sinister figure |
However, once in a while there comes a doom release which has that magic ability to unite both adversaries and make them sit near each other, hot pop corn in the hand, while enjoying the excellent heavy sounds that reach their doomed ears. I'm highly convinced that Reverend Bizarre is one of those few bands that have that charisma.
Slow as a hopelessly aged turtle, heavy as a tombstone weighting on the rotting bones of a corpse, the Reverend preaches the word of Doom, while spitting around his curses directed towards anyone who dares to suggest a link between doom and stoner rock. The groovy Sabbath riffs are the point of departure, but in the Reverend's church they sound much more painful, torturing slow and threatening. The occassional acceleration keeps the attention of the listener to the desired level through the whole recording. That such thing is not easy, proves the monstrous length of the 6 mammoth-tracks: 74 minutes of heavy DOOM, what else do we want?
Magister Alberts' incantations evoke images of a tipsy priest, whose drunk mental state encourages him to spit out in fury his blasphemic thoughts in front of a baffled audience. The guitars sound occasionally groovy, sometimes they create a wall of sound while at other times they offer subtle harmonies, seemingly underlining the Reverend's evil thoughts. The pounding drumming shall certainly be appreciated by old-school doom fans and 'modern' doom fans alike.
Who is going to dig this? In the first place those who are into old-school doom in the vein of St. Vitus, The obsessed and the other early doom gods. However, the evilness, grimness, and dark atmosphere of this material shall most probably attrack doom death fans and even funeral doom fans as well.
Highly recommended to the whole doomy community.
1. Burn in hell!
2. In the rectory
3. The hour of death
4. Sodoma sunrise
5. Doomsower
6. Cirith Ungol
Approx. 74 minutes
| Harbinger Of Metal (CD) | 2003 | Spikefarm Records |
But enough about the past: let`s move to the present. To tell you the truth I wasn't expecting for the band to release again a record of such a quality as their debut. This thought immediately withered when I came across their second masterpiece `Harbinger of Metal`, which is considered to be an EP and yet it is 74 minutes long!
The diving into the depths of hell has already been started on the debut, but now they are reaching the total doom metal abyss. 7 tracks, -like the 7 gates of hell- you will find in this release. The opening track "Harbinger", prepares the listener for what is about to follow. Like a creeping ghost it introduces us to the Bizarre world. The doom metal ceremony -that has just started- continues. `Strange Horizon` is well known from the `Slice Of Doom` demo and in my opinion it is one of the best compositions that the band has ever written. The dark narration of "The Ambassador", prepares the listener for the next track that is called "From The Void", a doom metal hymn born within the circles of hell, under the dance of ghosts with names like Black Sabbath, Saint Vitus, Pagan Altar, Pentagram etc. A very dark and obscure track, it is maybe the heaviest tune ever written by the band. Obscure atmosphere, creeping drums, heavy riffs, a trip to the darkest pits. The following track `The Wandering Jew` is slow and heavy as an elephant, while meanwhile very melodic. `Into The Realms Of Magickal Entertainment` is a dark mystic and obscure tune with no vocals that introduces the listener to the final chapter… `Dunkelheit`. This is a cover. Originally this track belongs to the Norwegian black metal band Burzum, and it appeared on their `Filosofem` album. In both versions words are meaningless to describe this track. A black mourn that should be listened during those strange hours just before the dawn and just after the long night hours, when the skies are painted in their darker colors and the silence seems to be almost deathlike. In this track the band shows once more a more aggressive feeling in some vocal parts. Possibly they want to pay tribute to the original tune, which is characterized by the aggressive meanwhile mournful vocals of Varg Vikernes (the only Burzum member).
Well to make a general conclusion about the new stuff I would point out that the band has become slower, heavier and darker! Even the vocals have become darker and from time to time, they become more aggressive as I pointed out earlier. In my opinion this release is a must for every doom metal fan. Reverend Bizarre have managed once more to drive us on a trip through hell and just for this, they are worth our respect.
1. Harbinger
2. Strange Horizon
3. The Ambassador
4. From The Void
5. The Wandering Jew
6. Into The Realms Of Magickal Entertainment
7. Dunkelheit
Approx. 74 minutes
| In The Rectory/Return To The Rectory (2CD) | 2004 | Spikefarm Records |
Obviously, the focus of this review will be the bonus disc, but I would be amiss if I didn't say anything about 'In The Rectory Of The Bizarre Reverend'. It does sound a little cleaner now, and certainly stronger. Personally, I didn't think it needed any added touches, but after listening to it again in its latest incarnation, I can't complain. All in all, a great slab of doom, that anyone calling themselves a 'doom metal fan' needs to own. I'm sure it's been said before though, so let's move on.
If 'Return To The Rectory' came out as an album on its own, I'm sure everyone would be praising it as another great slice of doom. The opening track, 'The March Of The War Elephants' (I do believe the title is a jab at the, shall we say, 'girth' of certain people who like to wear a lot of black, and a lot of makeup) starts off appropriately: slow, and crushing. Actually, this puts most funeral doom bands to shame... once again, Reverend Bizarre showing us that they can 'out doom' pretty much anyone they want to. The next song, 'The Festival' has an almost Simon And Garfunkel feel to it, what with the folkish acoustic guitar (I half expected Albert's vocals to come in at any moment, and start singing about 'Scarborough Fairs', and 'Sounds Of Silence'... and I certainly wasn't dissapointed when they almost did. The vocals are very peaceful, and relaxing here.) It's actually a pretty progressive sounding song, but at the same time, somehow earthy, and folk-like (but don't expect any hippie nonsense here, that would just be wrong).
For those who don't know, 'The Goddess Of Doom' (The third track here), is a song about the actress, Christina Ricci, what with the band being a fan of her work (and with her starring in movies like 'Sleepy Hollow', who can blame them... there's lots of doomy imagery to be found there, for sure). I must say though, it was strange to hear Albert rattle off doom bands later on in the song... but bravo for making them rhyme! Along with 'The Festival', the song, 'For You Who Walk In The Land Of The Shadows' certainly shows a mellower (yet in the case of this song, also more sinister) side of Reverend Bizarre. I'm somehow reminded of Candlemass' quieter moments... but it is a bit different here. Not so much epic, but somehow cold, and calculated... as if Reverend Bizarre are laying down the foundations for their juggernaut of doom. Indeed, they hit hard with it towards the latter parts of both songs.
Finally, after yet more crushing doom ('Dark Sorceress (Autumn Siege)', being one that sees some black metal style backing vocals... nice touch!), we come to the bonus video for 'Doom Over The World'. Though it does seem a bit like a 'space filler', it's a nice addition anyway. The song itself is certainly up-tempo, almost NWOBHM like. As for the video, it's pretty standard fare: shots of the band playing the song, then some shots of the band in a graveyard, but it's nice to be able to see Reverend Bizarre in action.
So, there it is: Almost two and a half hours of doom, across both discs. Even if you already own a copy of 'In The Rectory Of The Bizarre Reverend', this album is worth getting... and if you still haven't heard it... then what are you waiting for? Go get this, and prepare to be doomed. I suppose, if I was one of those reviewers who needed to categorize everything, I would label Reverend Bizarre simply as: pure doom. No gothic wankery, no ambient nonsense... just doom, and lots of it. That's the way it should be. To end this review, I will only say this: Once again, the mighty Reverend Bizarre have planted their iron fist of doom straight on the jaw of the unbelievers... and you'll be hard pressed to get more metal than that. Doom on!
Disc 1:
1. Burn In Hell
2. In The Rectory
3. The Hour Of Death
4. Sodoma Sunrise
5. Doomsower
6. Cirith Ungol
Disc 2:
1. The March Of The War Elephants
2. The Festival
3. The Goddess Of Doom
4. Aleister
5. Dark Sorceress (Autumn Siege)
6. The Warth Of The War Elephants
7. Doom Over The World (video)
Approx. 140 minutes
| III: So Long Suckers (Demo CD) | 2007 | None |
This album lasts two hours and nine minutes in total and brings the band‘s vision of Pure Doom Metal into total perfection. Maybe the answer to the question “How the hell they managed it?” is included in the title of the opening track of this album that is simply called ‘They Used Dark Forces’ and combined with the track ‘Teutonic Witch’ (which is released as a separate CD single as well) it manages to bring to the listener a holocaust of doom metal purity that lasts 29:05 minutes. In both those songs you would find the suffering ghosts of old Black Sabbath and Cathedral wandering around, musical influences that have been combined under Reverend Bizarre’s sound because yes, it is a fact that after one demo, three full lengths, and so many split releases, the Finnish doom metal band has managed to build a personal and characteristic sound that makes them recognizable between hundreds of bands older and newer (yes, newcomers who probably try to copy their musical style as well). Listening carefully to the ‘Teutonic Witch’ song we are able to recognize some NWOBHM as well. Touches mainly influenced from that strange part of NWOBHM where cursed bands like Hell and Widow were remaining far away from the light. Everything is put in the correct order and is touched by the magic bass-driven hand of the Finnish wizards.
‘Sorrow’ is a song that Reverend Bizarre owned to have written both for their fans and themselves, probably because sorrow is what was always behind their music and evil, probably because sorrow is the mother AND daughter of all evil. The song opens its vortex slowly, letting the listener dive into it and for 25:19 minutes you will get nothing but slow suffering doom metal – both in the musical and lyrical parts. Ideal stuff to torture yourself those nights of the dead…
Walking deeper to the hell of Reverend Bizarre’s epilogue, we shall finally meet an official version of the song ‘Funeral Summer’. It was about time for this to be presented officially on a full length. ‘One Last Time’ is the next tune carrying a mysterious bass-driven intro, and for 15:38 minutes it will torture us in its monolithic way. Not my favorite Reverend Bizarre song, but deep into the climate of the album and enforced by some strange lead themes that will drive us many, many, many years back in time - back into the ‘70s (nothing in common with the trendy crap of some well known bands, so do not panic).
‘Kundalini Arisen’ will speed us up for a while being fast, bass-driven, and with no vocals. Fortunately, ‘Caesar Forever’ will bring us back to the well known down tempos. An apocalyptic track lasting 15:43 minutes, for sure it is one of the best tunes on here. Albert’s vocals rule in here, sounding a little epic as well.
The final track is ‘Anywhere Out of this World’ - this one could also be included on the list with the best ever written RB tunes. Apocalyptic, with a hypnotizing intro - perhaps this will be the music that a soul is hearing on the way out of this world? Maybe. It is a fact that this song grabs some of the most amazing themes and melodies that the band has written - especially in its first 12:30 minutes. Then after an acoustic part, you should be able to listen to an amazing doom metal part for the last 10:20 minutes.
Well, I am sure that this would not be the final release of Reverend Bizarre. Like the undead that are striking back those cold winter nights, this band will continue to live on after death - releases including the stuff that the band has recorded but probably not yet released. Apart from that, the feedback that this band had around the underground was so big; and that makes it very difficult for them to be “dead and gone”.
Reverend Bizarre played with fire. They came out and brought to doom metal something that was seriously missing back in the end of the ‘90s when their debut demo was released: They brought PURITY and they resurrected a specific visual, lyrical and musical culture that was almost forgotten or ignored through the colors and the happiness of stoner rock that was overtaking the place back then. This fact makes me still to believe that the original mushroom front cover of that ’Slice of Doom’ demo CD was one of their sarcastic tricks.
They guided a difficult path, taking themselves and their culture more seriously, having not prepared for the fact that someday they might be one of the biggest underground outfits like they ended to be. And in all cases when you are getting bigger – even in the underground - you got to learn to split some water into your wine, and this the was opposite with the close-minded specific vision that the band have created firstly for themselves and secondly for the brave ones ready to follow. So maybe this was one of the reasons that drove them to split. “It is better to burn out than to fade away” Neil Young had once sung…and he was right…
CD 1:
1. They Used Dark Forces/Teutonic Witch
2. Sorrow
3. Funeral Summer
CD 2:
4. One Last Time
5. Kundalini Arisen
6. Caesar Forever
7. Anywhere Out of this World
Approx. 129 minutes