I Am God

Doom metal, as a whole, is largely based on the influence of Black Sabbath alone. Still, most bands have branched out considerably from the exact sound that Sabbath revolutionized. While many of the riffs of early Candlemass albums were indistinguishable from those that one might find on Paranoid, the operatic and comically vibrato-laced vocals were a dead giveaway that the band was shooting for different goal entirely; and while Patrick Walker may have pulled off a damn good Ozzy impression on Watching from a Distance, the riffs behind those nasal vocals were progressive and dreamily atmospheric. Basically, very few doom bands have tried to totally recall the Black Sabbath sound because they know that they would not succeed at matching the quality of any of those classic albums. But Exorcism, an international supergroup, managed to perfectly match (and, I dare say, improve upon) the sound and feel of Ronnie James Dio-era Sabbath on their 2014 debut, the boldly titled I Am God.

How, you may ask, does a band practically nobody is familiar with manage to create an album that sounds like a midpoint between Heaven and Hell and Dehumanizer? Well, the down-tempo, blues-based riffs certainly help. The simple drum patterns are infused with sudden, rapid, jazz-influenced fills similar to those heard from Bill Ward. The bass carries each and every song with driving, punchy lines that have plenty of cool little licks thrown in.

And yes, Csaba Zvekan does manage to sound almost exactly like Ronnie James Dio. His rich, confident, soaring vocals add the perfect icing (for lack of better terminology) on the proverbial cake which is the instrumental section. He also throws in some extraordinarily high notes, which sound like a strong mix of Rob Halford and Tim Aymar; these are, in my humble opinion, actually far cooler and more impressive than his lower range.

The biggest difference between I Am God and the records it is obviously trying to emulate is the higher-quality, ultramodern production heard here. It's maybe similar to Sabbath's 13, but overall sounds better. The guitars are played through a paradoxically heavy tone: The distortion is extremely thick, yet every note of every riff and every solo can be heard with stellar clarity. The bass is fairly overdriven and never hides behind the guitars; in fact, it dominates the mix (though not at all in a bad way). The drums sound great but are clearly intended to serve only as the backbone and never to steal the spotlight. Overall, this mix is about as good as I can imagine any being, especially for this genre. It serves the music very well.

The only other major difference is the guitar solos. Whereas Tony Iommi probably would have played his classic (yet no longer impressive, I hate to admit) blues licks, the legendary Joe Stump fills the solo sections with jaw-dropping sweep picking and extraordinarily technical scale runs manage to not sound out-of-place despite the simplistic nature of the music's other components. The best example comes toward the end of "Stay in Hell."

I would highly recommend I Am God to any fan of traditional heavy and doom metal. The riffs are great, the vocals are epic, and the overall quality is just about perfect. I hope that Exorcism continues to put out music; as I'm sure that, if given the opportunity, they could improve even more upon this style (though that's near impossible).

Best songs: "End of Days," "Last Rock 'n' Roll," "Master of Evil," "Higher," and "Stay in Hell."