{"id":31951,"date":"2013-09-19T06:09:53","date_gmt":"2013-09-19T11:09:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=31951"},"modified":"2014-02-08T08:37:52","modified_gmt":"2014-02-08T13:37:52","slug":"blood-ceremony-the-eldritch-dark-cd-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2013\/blood-ceremony-the-eldritch-dark-cd-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Blood Ceremony | The Eldritch Dark<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Justin Gaines<\/span>
\n– Senior Columnist\/News Editor —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"BloodOne of the more promising bands in the whole resurgence of occult-themed heavy\/stoner\/psychedelic rock is Canadian act Blood Ceremony, who has returned with their third album, titled The Eldritch Dark<\/em>. Blood Ceremony\u2019s approach to old school heavy rock owes as much to Jethro Tull as it does Black Sabbath, and it\u2019s obvious Coven was a major influence as well.<\/p>\n

The Eldritch Dark carries on more or less where 2011\u2019s Living With the Ancients (and the band\u2019s 2008 self-titled debut) left off, channeling the riffs of Black Sabbath\u2019s more mellow moments with completely infectious flute work by vocalist Alia O\u2019Brien. Blood Ceremony sounds a lot like a more ethereal version of Swedish band Witchcraft here, maintaining a metal edge while veering deep into psychedelic territory. O\u2019Brien\u2019s vocals are haunting and otherworldly, and are the perfect match for these songs about wizards, dark rites and the supernatural.<\/p>\n

The album starts very memorably with the spooky \u201cWitchwood\u201d and surprisingly catchy \u201cGoodbye Gemini,\u201d before bassist Lucas Gadke takes a turn at the microphone for \u201cLord Summerisle,\u201d which for all its tranquility is one of the album\u2019s most memorable tracks. The heavy, bard-style \u201cBallad of the Weird Sisters\u201d and the title track are also highlights of this very strong release. Closing number \u201cThe Magician\u201d is the album\u2019s heaviest, most flute-laden track, and it closes things on an appropriately Sabbath-y note.<\/p>\n

While The Eldritch Dark isn\u2019t as instantly gratifying as Living With the Ancients, it\u2019s definitely an album that grows on you with repeated listens. This is a worthy follow-up, and still more proof why Blood Ceremony is the best of female-fronted occult rock bands like The Devil\u2019s Blood, Jess and the Ancient Ones, Jex Thoth and the like. Fans of Graveyard, Witchcraft, Kadavar and Orchid will also want to give The Eldritch Dark a try. It captures that 1969 heavy rock sound as well as anything released in the last couple of years, and that\u2019s saying something!<\/p>\n

Genre: Doom Metal, Psychedelic Rock<\/p>\n

Band:
\nLucas Gadke (b)
\nAlia O\u2019Brien (v) (k) (f)
\nSean Kennedy (g)
\nMichael Carillo (d)<\/p>\n

Track Listing:
\n1.\tWitchwood
\n2.\tGoodbye Gemini
\n3.\tLord Summerisle
\n4.\tBallad of the Weird Sisters
\n5.\tThe Eldritch Dark
\n6.\tDrawing Down the Moon
\n7.\tFaunus
\n8.\tThe Magician<\/p>\n

Label: Rise Above<\/p>\n

Website: www.myspace.com\/bloodceremony<\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven rating: 9\/10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Justin Gaines – Senior Columnist\/News Editor — One of the more promising bands in the whole resurgence of occult-themed heavy\/stoner\/psychedelic rock is Canadian act Blood Ceremony, who has returned with their third album, titled […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":31952,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8704],"tags":[1093,3822,4961],"class_list":{"0":"post-31951","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2013","8":"tag-doom-metal","9":"tag-psychedelic-rock","10":"tag-rise-above"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31951"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31951\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}