Gates of Flesh

For those who don't know, Lord Vicar was a result of the breakup of (in my opinion) the greatest doom metal band of all time, Reverend Bizarre. The guitarist, Kimi Kärki (AKA Peter Vicar), teamed up with ex-Saint Vitus and ex-Count Raven vocalist, Christian "Chritus" Linderson to form something of a traditional doom metal supergroup.

Rev Biz fans looking for more of the same won't find it here. What they will find a more stripped down, raw version of the traditional doom metal they are used to. Kimi's guitar playing is still as slow, heavy, and mournful as ever and the variety old fans would expect is very much intact. A great example of this is the opener, Birth of Wine. The track opens with a very typical clunky doom metal riff, but it quickly evolves into a gorgeous clean melody. I don't mean to downplay the rest of the album, but this melody is the highlight of the album for me.

Chritus sounds great on this record. He's as eccentric and mournful as ever. His voice often sounds like it's about to break and go off-key. This is the sort of quirky vocal work you probably expect from traditional doom. Not to say Chritus is totally standard. He brings a lot of emotion to the tracks that wouldn't be there otherwise.

For people who are more familiar with Lord Vicar, you'll find this album to be a more refined version of what they have done in the past. The songwriting is fairly simple, with exactly enough variety to keep you listening. Despite being 40 minutes, the album feels very short. That's somewhat of a refreshing factor when you think of Kimi's past efforts, albums that sometimes trudged on far too long.

If you were looking for a nice slab of tradition doom in 2016, you can't go wrong with Lord Vicar's Gates of Flesh.
Another strong album under the belt!