When I first got my hands on this disc I was a little cynical as to what the sound would be like. After all, the band is made up of members from some pretty extreme metal acts, most worth mentioning Sentenced, Impaled Nazarene, Chaosbreed, Beherit and Lullacry. I had a sort of trepidation, a prejudgment if you will, as to "just how are these straight up metalheads gonna sound doing a stoner throwback to the 60's". Well....pretty damned good as it turns out. Make no qualms about it now, this is a metal band, but a metal band with some serious hippie/southern fried blues.
Fronted by Taneli Jarva(Sentenced, Impaled Nazarene), whose vocals fall somewhere between a Frankenstein mixture of Danny Joe Brown(Molly Hatchet), Glenn Danzig, Roy Orbison,and even Jim Morrison, The Black League is a torrent of sound. Heavy laden guitar riffing from Maike Valanne and Kim "Heavy" Hiltunen resembles Steppenwolf and Sabbath without being a blatant copycat as is all too common in this genre. The soloing is excellent and just eminates the psychedelic sound the band has worked 3 years to craft down to perfection.
Ilkka Tanska is one hell of a bassist and his work with Rale Tiiainen on the drums laying down the monstrous backbeat pushes this release fully into the win category. From the beginning track, "Zero Providence" to the final bars of "Heavy Downer" this album does not have one lacking moment.
This album is a must for fans of the Stoner/psychedic rock and metal genre. Hell, anyone who likes old school rock bands like Molly Hatchet, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Black Sabbath, Steppenwolf, The Doors and Cream should look into getting this gem as well.
I don't know what it is about Scandinavia, but I can say this: That region of the world has done little but produced some extraordinarily good bands for more than a decade now and The Black League is among the cream of the crop.
Band: The Black League
Album: Ghost Brothel
Genre: Stoner metal/Retro 60's Psychedelic Rock
Country: Finland
Rating: 4/5
Download: Here
By Bez
1 Peaple Showed Us Love:
I liked this alot Bez, excellent find.
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