Departed Souls

It’s a fitting eventuality that New England should be the site of a faithful emulation of something born of Old England, let alone be the home of one of Black Sabbath’s more conservative stylistic disciples. That’s basically the only way to really sum up what Magic Circle does, a near perfect modern day revival of that classic Ozzy-fronted era of said band, with a particular emphasis on what came forth during the era that spanned Master Of Reality up until Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. It comes with a somewhat heavier, more unified packaging that dovetails with the direction that NWOBHM outfits like Witchfinder General and Pagan Altar took the same emulation, yet there is a greater degree of conservatism with regard to their proximity to the original. Naturally no emulation will result in a perfect copy of the original, lest the lawsuits begin to fly in the direction of any such perpetrator, and this Massachusetts-based quintet definitely has their own curious spin on the vintage Sabbath template.

If one wished to sum up the basic picture of this outfit’s 3rd LP Departed Souls via analogy, it would be a more psychedelic retread of the ultra heavy (for its time) yet spacey character of Vol. 4. Though the latter album under consideration was definitely far from averse in employing keyboards, acoustic guitars and other instruments outside of the traditional heavy metal/hard rock arrangement, said peripheral tools are used in a far more pronounced way to augment the lighter moments of these songs. Likewise, vocalist Brendan Radigan has a very similar nasally timbre to Ozzy Osbourne circa 1972, but has a more powerful head voice and less pitchy delivery that gives his interpretation a slight bit more of a Robert Plant sounding swagger at times. On the other hand, the guitars and rhythm section play it extremely close to the free flowing, jam band sound of Iommi, Butler and Ward; with the guitar solo work even going so far as to perfectly copy Iommi’s layered bluesy lead approach to a tee.

From the instant of onset to the grand finale, the impression that this album leaves is one of total familiarity, particularly for those who fancy themselves experts on the era of Sabbath most directly linked to the invention of stoner metal. Though cooking at more of an upper mid-paced stride, the opening title song “Departed Souls” kicks things off on a riff that reminds fairly heavily of “Snowblind”, and even goes so far to notch the tempo up abruptly to a faster swinging gallop immediately following the guitar solo segment. Immediately nipping on its heels is another similarly quick and bluesy rocker with flowing arpeggio segments “I’ve Found My Way To Die”, only the sudden tempo shift is replaced by a greater helping of fancy guitar soloing with a side order of synthesizer noise to heighten the psychedelic factor. Pretty much the only thing that keeps these songs from being all out Sabbath tunes is a humble display from the bass and drums, alongside Radigan giving a vocal performance that comes off as a bit more dynamic and gritty.

As the album progresses, while the similarities to classic Sabbath continue to dominate things, the presentation becomes a tad bit less derivative. The much longer and involved jam sessions “Valley Of The Lepers” and “Nightland” lean a bit more towards the Sabbath Blood Sabbath end of things, the latter having more of a happy-go-lucky rocking sound that exploits the two guitar arrangement a bit more and also lays on the spacey atmosphere during a brilliant orchestrated interlude at the song’s center. The flower power ballad “A Day Will Dawn Without Nightmares” takes the basic premise of the Sabbath ballad as presented in “Solitude” and “Laguna Sunrise” and gives it more of Zeppelin twist a la “The Rain Song”. Meanwhile, the ultra-bluesy rocker with an occasionally weird vibe “Gone Again” all but merges a jazz organ-driven ballad sound reminiscent of the intro music to “Law & Order” with a pummeling low end groove, while the closing doom-steeped trudge of “Hypnotized” closes things out on a decidedly dense and fatalistic note, almost like a slower reprise of the same “Snowblind” inspired anthem that began this troubled opus.

Naturally the question that comes to mind upon first experiencing an album like this is, what’s the point of it all when we already have not only the albums of Black Sabbath, but also a healthy supply of emulators from Pentagram to Maryland’s own Iron Man paying tribute 2 decades before Magic Circle was even founded? The answer to this question lays in the very fact that the original band ceased all activity a couple years ago, as did the latter of the two others just last year sadly with the passing of guitarist and founder Al Morris III. Doom metal, even in its most orthodox manifestation, is not merely a handful of pioneers who came and went in the distant past, but a living tradition that should continue on into the foreseeable future. The only way that this can occur is for younger bands to likewise continue exploring and further expanding its possibilities, even if only to write the same songs in a different way. All of this is accomplished in a highly entertaining way on Departed Souls, like a celebration of the legacy of the original. It’s been done before, it’s being done now, and it will be done again, Lord willing.

Originally written for Sonic Perspectives (www.sonicperspectives.com)