Portents, Omens and Doom

The Lamp of Thoth was the first project from English heavy/doom metal legend Simon Rourke, AKA "The Overtly Melancholic Lord Strange," and in my opinion Portents, Omens, and Doom is still the best thing he's been a part of to date. A project which, from the very outset, never purports to take itself (or anything else) too seriously, with the wacky stage names, cartoonish vocal delivery, and crudely silly, fantastical lyrical themes, The Lamp of Thoth takes a foundation of groovy Sabbath-inspired riffs and uses those ideas in a way few others had in the late 2000s. In fact, while there was a fair amount of experimentation with the classic doom metal sound early on in the scene, with bands like St. Vitus, Trouble, and Confessor taking things in new directions, by the 90s and 2000s it seemed most traditional doom bands either leaned hard into the more epic "doom and gloom" sound championed by Candlemass or just went full on 70s Sabbath worship, without a whole lot of notable acts in between. Sure, you had stoner doom, which certainly takes heavy influence from Sabbath and does have some elements in common with traditional doom, but I really feel that's more of its own scene, tending to draw in a different audience and having a very distinct overall vibe. For traditional doom, things were getting pretty stale in the mid 2000s, outside of a few outliers like Reverend Bizarre and The Gates of Slumber. Even those acts were pretty different from what The Lamp of Thoth brought to the table with their 2008 debut full-length Portents, Omens, and Doom - a faster, groovier experience more focused on having fun and telling a story than in crafting the heaviest riffs or "staying true" to the spirit of Sabbath. This was a breath of fresh air for the genre, and remains one of the most uniquely enjoyable doom metal albums over 15 years later.

Firstly, the vocals: clearly inspired by Ozzy to some extent with their nasally warbling character, but taken in a much more over-the-top, even absurd direction that evokes nothing more than a classic cartoon character. Of course, this is a character more interested in seducing virgins, "smoking and tripping," and worshipping Satan than a traditional cartoon character - so, perhaps, someone from South Park? Or Beavis and Butthead? Certainly of the more "adult" variety, as there are plenty of "fucks" thrown out and sometimes this can give the delivery a slightly "edgy" quality, but really I'd say this is more of the British humor a la Monty Python - absurd and offensive because there's just less of the uptight American aversion to sex and profanity. So, in other words, if the UK came out with something akin to South Park or Beavis and Butthead, The Lamp of Thoth's Lord Strange would fit into it quite well. The melodramatic flair he adds works quite well in the context, with opener "I Love The Lamp" starting things off with an incredibly groovy and catchy main riff, and the opening line 'I was walking through the forest just the other day / Seducing any virgins that came my way' gives us the perfect preview of what we have in store on this album - a silly collection of stories focused on having fun and giving zero fucks about anything else. Thankfully, Lord Strange happens to be a top-notch riff writer, throwing out catchy grooves over and over throughout the album like he's got an infinite supply that were bestowed upon him by Satan himself. Few bands are able to throw out perfect doom riffs as consistently as he does, and he also knows how long to let them ride before switching to another idea. Despite a 65+ minute album length and songs that often surpass the six-minute mark, the album almost never drags or feels stale, giving each riff and melody enough time to savor before moving on. The only other modern trad doom band to fly by this well and make me feel like I'm actually listening to a 40-minute album is Briton Rites, whom I hold in very high regard.

While the tone of the album is fairly consistent throughout, there is some stylistic variation between tracks; for example, "The House" gives us a gloomier, spooky atmosphere like entering a forbidden tomb, but with still with a thick layer of B-movie cheese on top, so that it still has that campy, "fun" feeling to it while still managing to mix things up. More of a cartoony Candlemass than a cartoony Black Sabbath, if you will, but it's still executed brilliantly, clearly a product that came naturally out of a songwriting session rather than an attempt to deliberately switch things up or force a different sound into the mix. One of the most memorable and instantly recognizable tracks on the album is "Blood on Satan's Claw," which opens up with an a capella iteration of the chorus, 'Hey, you! You motherfucking whore! Youre gonna burn, there's blood on Satan's claw!' It engages the listener instantly and, I suppose, separates the boys from the men in a way, where those who have more delicate sensibilities might turn away from the album, but those who just enjoy catchy melodies and having as much fun as possible will revel in this one. It feels almost like a punk song with is British gang shouts and faster, punchier stride, but it works just as well as anything else on the album, if not better. It's certainly one of the highlights for me, and you might the refrain sticking in your head for days or even weeks afterward.

"Victorian Wizard" does perhaps drag on just a tad in places, with its daunting 10+ minute length, but it's still a solid track and never becomes painful or unpleasant, merely makes you perhaps wonder when the next track will start towards the end. "Pagan Daze" does a good job of playing with rhythm, starting with a wonderfully cheesy spoken word intro, then following up with a bit of slightly technical guitar work reminiscent of early Trouble, then going into a verse that has one of the slowest tempos on the album, yet still manages to feel engaging with some clever riffing. The chorus is quite memorable, with lines like 'My friends are building, the wickerman!' before the song erupts into a faster, more intense and aggressive section, and then ends out with a final verse in the style of the opening. It's a quite progressive song structure that keeps things interesting throughout with some more sophisticated techniques than the dumb fun that's heard on a lot of the album. "Hand of Glory" is another memorable number with its inimitable swagger and particularly melodramatic and over-emphasized vocals, Lord Strange often putting so much intensity into each word that it sounds like its own line. In fact, his vocal delivery here almost feels like part of the rhythm section at time, with lines like 'That which you've kept apart' having such a deliberate syncopation to them that they help keep the tempo as well as the bass or drums. There's even a whistling section! This is certainly another highlight, and possibly my favorite song on the album, though "Blood on Satan's Claw" gives it a run for its money.

Overall, while there are songs which feel a bit rushed to me, like "You Will Obey," and "Satan's Hammer," this is one of the catchiest and most fun doom metal albums I've ever heard, feeling more like an early 80s heavy metal band a la Manowar who simply decided to play doom riffs; while I feel it's quite an original concept, the band's philosophy and style probably have more in common with Witchfinder General than any other "early" doom metal band, with its often faster tempos and NWOBHM-like exuberance and sense of novelty and adventure. For what seems to amount to a one-man band in terms of songwriting and ideas, with Lady Pentagram providing a solid drum performance but never the star of the show, The Overtly Melancholy Lord Strange has done more for the trad doom scene with this one album than most bands do in their entire career. Unfortunately, he'd never quite capture that same magic again. While The Lamp of Thoth's subsequent EP's are quite good, nothing ever quite reaches the heights of anthems like "I Love the Lamp," "Blood on Satan's Claw," or "Hand of Glory," while his work with Arkham Witch I find loses the magic entirely despite some fantastic lyrical themes. If you're a fan of fun Sabbathian romps or just fun party-style albums in general, Portents, Omens, and Doom is a standout and remains a masterpiece of its style.