BLOOD CEREMONY - The Old Ways Remain
Rise Above Records
After a seven year hiatus Canada's BLOOD CEREMONY return with their fifth full length since starting out in the late 2000's. Now in all honesty I am a fan of their first three albums. The band were part of that whole occult retro doom trend (that never existed in the 70's at all) from a decade or so ago. They basically took a touch of 70's hard rock, added in some psych as well as folk melodies and took off.
The game changer was Alia O'Brien's amazing wispy, sultry, bluesy vocals. Toss in her use of keyboards and the flute. It was some damm good sounding music at a time when we needed a break from the norm. But of course you had to listen to it with open and experienced ears. The comparisons to SABBATH meets JETHRO TULL as a way to describe em were all over the place. I must admit that every time I listen to BLOOD CEREMONY I wanna pull out JETHRO TULL's Stand Up album. Which is a more hard rock / blues sounding album then Prog.
Now as far as their last one goes, 2016's Lord of Misrule, was a decent release if you put aside the fact that they pretty much ripped off a lot of riffs and melodies from PINK FLOYD, The BEATLES, SABBATH and some one hit wonders from the past. Hey you can fool those ignorant hipster clowns. But I grew up back then and remember stuff. So when I listen to this one it's more about who are they ripping off then how good the song sounds.
So with that said, after listening to this new one I can say they got the title correct. The Old Ways Remain is a throwback to this band's early days to a point. There's some great songs and a few stinkers. Now the good stuff features the cool riffs by Sean Kennedy who's been the iron man behind this band since inception. Yes good riffs and solos reminiscent of the past that are never over indulgent. Opener "The Hellfire Club" and "Ipsissimus" are impressive. The third cut "Eugenie" actually reminded me of 70's era TRAFFIC with it's R&B beat plus that Hammond organ run with the saxophone solo by guest Joseph Shabason. Of course Alia O'Brien's flute work is key to the opening to the song she does give way to everyone else in the end.
"Lolly Willows" is a decent melodic rocker cut with a cool guitar / drum interplay reminiscent of SABBATH and JETHRO TULL. From this point on as far as this release goes it's hit or miss. The band ventures more into wannabe Prog territory on this album's second half and it's not well done. The bottom line is that this album is packed with good stuff on the front end. The latter half is boring to me. Nuff Said.
LISTEN HERE:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltFmQqmi4PE&list=PLQzhhluNlimr66my6CO9_9NkhwX9X-os2
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