Cult of Black Friars

Black Capricorn play godly doom that is all-enveloping and swaggering that its very precious exaggerations threaten to transcend it against its will into the older form of psychedelic tumult. But the band is stubbornly gloomy and entrenched in the occultic annals to be anything other than rich golden earthly doom metal. Fabrizio Monni fronts Black Capricorn and his riffs burn. They scorch and linger with ages-old fury and his buried vocals hum and peel through with soiled wisdom. He is joined by the singularly named Virginia on bass and Rachela on drums and these two grim women hold down the fort excellently, pummeling steadily until the end. For example, the stormy atmosphere on "Hammer of the Witches" is heightened a great deal by the bass and when the guitar solo comes careening through it takes the song a notch higher for credulous ceremonial showmanship. And that is what this album possesses in spades; atmosphere and enormity. The songs are well formed and big boned. There's all these little pockets of sonic information along the run out of the record that are so aptly placed that the general listening experience is eventually deemed worthwhile. "Riding the Devil's Horses" sounds exactly like that - like what a trip through the very infernal depths on horseback ought to be scored. "Animula Vagula Blandula" opens with hypnotic flute before showing its massive riffs where Fabrizio then waxes ancient and poetic.

The pacing on "Cult of Black Friars" is its biggest positive. The songs are cohesive and complement each other so well. The title track is ushered in after the very effusively dark "Atomium" whose guitar production needs thundering applause. It is a forwardly cold piece of metal yet there's a warmth at the core of it. Possibly the smoky way it undulates. Elsewhere we get the mournful bridges of "From The Abyss" where it seems our dark friends are trying desperately to make their way out of some horrid lodge via the sea as the abominable lodge liege pursues them. For sublime theatrical effect, a sonorous olde English voice is employed amid the crashing waves, reminding me of Iron Maiden's "Rime of the Ancient Mariner". The riffs soon return with the subdued vocals turning it into some pale type of tryst between Maiden and Electric Wizard. Something only Black Capricorn could arrange. They are highly comfortable musicians and that makes the songs even more wholesome and enjoyable. There's an assured flow to all the songs and even the out and out riff fests like "Arcane Sorcerer" have definition to them no matter how hazy. A comment has to of course be made on the album closer "To the Shores of Distant Stars". It is a strange one. Bass-heavy and menacing but also minimalist and haunting in an almost Paul Chain manner. It is both a welcome break from all the majestic volume before it and a fitting note to end things on. This is a thoroughly solid album and probably the best of all of Black Capricorn's full lengths.