(Low Frequency Records)
At last! It’s been a lot of time since a really good new pure doom band has appeared. REVEREND BIZARRE is a Finnish trio, true believers of the cult of the Holy Four (a.k.a. BLACK SABBATH or simply the best band in the world ever!) that have studied the teachings of their evangelists CANDLEMASS, SAINT VITUS, THE OBSESSED, TROUBLE and decided to pay tribute and follow their direction. Accordingly, REVEREND BIZZARE play old school traditional doom. In their music purity is the key word. The best description that I can give about their music is the following: Imagine something like CATHEDRAL’s debut “Forest of Equilibrium” but simpler and with clean vocals. In order to play traditional doom metal you really have to love this genre because you have to accept that you will never become very famous, commercially successful or even earn a living by your music. After all doom metal has never become a trend. For that fact alone REVEREND BIZARRE should earn our respect. But my feelings for their debut go beyond respect, it earns my admiration. “In the Rectory of the Bizarre Reverend” consists of six slow, monolithic, ultra doom compositions with a total duration of 74 minutes. Their music is stripped down to the basics with a sound as down-tuned as it gets, breathing despair and desolation filled with a funeral feeling. And all these achieved without any use of keyboards whatsoever. All the songs of the album are consistent in terms of style, sound and quality and it is with great difficulty that I can pick out “Cirith Ungol” and “Sodoma Sunrise” as its best moments. Maybe REVEREND BIZARRE are not pioneers or innovators and certainly their debut does not have the ingenuity of CANDLEMASS’ compositions or the personality of THE OBSESSED (courtesy of Wino) but they created a very good honest record with six very emotion-infusing and interesting songs that doomsters are thirsty for and will absolutely love. This record is not just heavy, it impossible to lift (and it is only their debut)! Doom metal was in desperate need of young blood and has found it in REVEREND BIZARRE. Congratulations!
