Parish

As far as gaming goes, I'm what you consider "casual" despite many hours in front of the warp zoning screen - to the point where my good pal and online acolyte Mr_Mickzptlk had to explain to me what an ever elusive platinum trophy is. In short, aside from perhaps Dead Island 2 (where we're merciless beasts), such lofty awards are outside of my reach. This brings us to London, England's Parish, an emergent trio whose brand of mystically funky heavy doom metal amiably brings to relaxed mind the low riding and pentatonic Demon Eye, Lucifer and The Wizar'd, for want of reflectively cool nostalgia. Following a 2019 demo and 2020 EP, the groovy tabernacle revels us with its titular dual pentacle.

Most paramount, the ten songs on Parish sooth both blood shot eyes and jangled nerves in a myriad of fetching ways. Front man-guitarist James Paulley's languid and concise mid-range vocals and easily absorb-able riffs coasts and roll like rushing ocean waves above the plump battery duo of bassist Tony Hughes and sticksman Joe Buhlmer, whilst the folksy themes lend a breezy air of chill malevolence. Not that the album is front loaded by any means, but they're are some serious bangers right through the (mausoleum) gate: "Parish" proper slowly panoplies itself into a heady sing-along back scratcher you'll be buzz humming in no time thanks to its regally downwind refrain, whilst the one-two punch of "Cunning Murrell" and top pick "Lucinda" - the lyrically wicked equivalent of Megadeth's timeless "Lucretia" - sees us waltzing down the street in a blaze of self-contented musings, with more of the great, Sabbath-y stuff to come.

As a matter of fact, it's as if Parish takes the best elements of what made Black Sabbath and Witchfinder General so renowned and simply applies a fresh coat of levity and smoothness to otherwise rocking but technically awkward and stiff delivery. There are also none-too-subtle nuances of Church of Misery. For instance, the up-and-down bebop jolts of "Creation Myth" make a fine compliment to the fluid rendition of "Hand Of Doom" found within "Pilgrim's End", which makes for a clever band name, as well. Although I mostly dig the first three tracks, Parish's self-titled announcement is loud and clear: you'd be a not-at-all wiser fool to not check it out. (Plus, doesn't that dwarfish artwork garner surplus acclaim?)

Freshly cut grass and lightly fried fish filet from the local tavern with room temp ale

The English label Crypt of the Wizard (great name) has been releasing a few bangers recently with the traditional doom metal of Woe, the Lord of the Rings’ heavy rock of Riders of Rohan and more interestingly in our case, the first releases of London’s Parish. Their formula is highly enjoyable and intensely catchy. Let’s see why.

I see Parish as a sort of heavier response to the pastoral christian heavy metal/hard rock of fellow brits Wytch Hazel. While the band led by Jesus’ favourite troubadour Colin Hendra leans more towards Thin Lizzy or Jethro Tull, Parish are huge Sabbath simps and I love it. Their 70s sound is mixing ethereal vocals (see Ghost, the vocal approach is similar) with a folk tinged doom metal approach paying homage to the greats (see Budgie, Witchfinder General, Sabbath but also Wishbone Ash). Their songs are about witches, the countryside, wenches, taverns and other occult stuff. It's their bread and butter and I’ll spread their themes all over my buns for sure. It’s fun stuff and packs an extra punch.

The power trio rocks, it’s a tight forty minutes album without any filler, it’s direct and to the point. The riffs are solid (see “Cunning Murell”) albeit the band is somewhat generic and owes a lot to what came before them. That’s a stylistic choice, it’s hard to make “new” classic traditional heavy/doom anyway. To me, they’re both heavy and soothing at the same time, I think that’s a rare feat. A band like Pagan Altar has it as well.

Parish possess this ghostly quality that makes them stand out (somewhat) from the doom crowd. I do think that there’s some added elements that makes them worth your time if your itch of checking new bands is present but after a while, it becomes somewhat tiring and it's not really an album I'll revisit often instead of hitting the doom classics. Still worthwhile though! It's good English countryside heavy/doom that smells like freshly cut grass with the light aroma of fried fish filet.

Metantoine's Magickal Realm