Toxic Voodoo

The great Dawn Crosby (R.I.P.) graced with her presence two acts: the one under scrutiny here and Détente. The latter’s “Recognize No Authority” remains a milestone in the annals of US speed/thrash, but like many other outfits (Sentinel Beast, Znowhite, Anvil Bitch, Messiah Force, etc.) at the time, many of them also female-fronted, they weren’t given a chance to rise to a second occasion. The more persistent ones, Crosby among them, eventually saw themselves leading another band a few years later. She had also taken some of her colleagues from Détente, the guitar player Michael Carlino and then bassist Blair Darby, along for the ride, and boom, Fear of God was born.

The debut “Within the Veil” was a masterpiece, very well conformed with the shifting “sands” at the time in a way that it wasn’t built around the impetuous sincere speedy bash of the 80’s works, but was embalmed in a dark gothic aura the latter frequently pricked by stylish heavy thrashy rifforamas. There wasn’t much up-tempo shredding as the dominant approach was minimalistic and mid-paced with subversive doomy overtones and deep sinister atmospherics, a fairly unique, fairy tale-like style which left plenty of room for further exploration, especially during the amorphous 90’s.

And our friends took a second chance three years later with the album reviewed here. Surprises have been prepared along the way, though: the sound is way more aggressive with a prominent presence of death metal at times, and the bass has become more than second fiddle sometimes dominating the whole landscape. Crosby has brought back some of her more brutal singing feats from the Detente spell… in other words, expect a different “beast”, scarier and much heavier. “Beyond the Veil” (no track of that title on the debut) alone will squash you like a steam-roller with its seismic volcanic rhythms taken straight from the early Celtic Frost efforts. “Cloud Chamber” nearly reaches technical thrash/death proportions with its stylish bouncy riffs the gothic atmospherics at the end pacifying the complex drama. “Swine Song” is a brooding macabre roller-coaster recalling the debut’s dark aesthetics with a consistent main motif; and “Burnt” is crushing old school thrash with a cool doom/deathy interlude in the best spirit of Asphyx and Beyond Belief.

“Feed Time” is vintage Celtic Frost Crosby’s apocalyptic, hellish shouts enhancing the atmosphere also helped by the cool lead insertions; and “Mercy” is pure ship-sinking doom. “Santismo” brings back the more vivid thrash/deathy delivery the doomy vestiges still echoing around only to return to stay on the ultimate doom metal hymn “U.V.”. “Will of Evil” increases the tempo to almost headbanging dimensions, a tendency partially continued on “Worms” which “flirts” with more relaxed, more playful rhythms bordering on crossover before the genuinely doomy finale serves the final portion of gloom and despair.

It was really hard to beat the gorgeous debut, but the band didn’t even try to follow up this road opting instead for a different approach with a bigger emphasis on doom with a little help from the good, already old at the time death metal. The influence of the mentioned Swiss masters is way more palpable here whereas it was just a dash or a flavour felt here and there on the first showing, but there was nothing bad in that as no one was paying tribute to the Frosts in the mid-90’s, and the gothic/doom metal fraternity/sisterhood was in full bloom, always ready to accept another member into its fold, especially someone giving it such a desirable more aggressive embellishment...

the “Killing the Pain” EP, which came out a few months later, was a logical follow-up to the album reviewed here, a fine blend between doom-laden sounds and hard-hitting thrashing with a more modern flair. There were bigger things stirring up for the band for sure now that they had found the right way to please the 90’s audience, but Crosby’s untimely demise merely months after the EP’s completion put an end to all lofty aspirations. The remaining members voted to continue under the name Fog, and managed one full-length (“Jezebel’s Dream”) in 1999 before disbanding; the style was a brand of atmospheric doom/death with a good balance between the two sides, maybe a tad more death metal-fixated: think the Dutch trend in this sector (Asphyx and Beyond Belief again, Orphanage, the Creepmime debut, etc.). They may as well think over the prospective resurrection of Fear of God; to keep the legacy alive for the fans, for Crosby, and for all worshippers of voodoo magick with a penchant for doomy lethal spells.