Hour of 13 play a hard ruling mix of traditional doom and NWOBHM (with a few stoner riffs and some straight up evil guitar harmonies) that I've been obsessing over for a minute. Mercyful Fate + Pentagram + Witchfinder General? I don't know. Make no mistake however, this is no throwback attempt to simply ape thee gods of the genre...the jams sound fresh while still maintaining that old school feel. This album is dark, malevolent and occult as fuck. The lyrical themes deal mostly with devil worship, blasphemy and apocalyptic sorcery- "With sacred blades I mutilate. To my own wounds I masturbate." No "true doom" guilty christian lyrics or hippie shit here, folks. Vocalist Phil Swanson (who has been since replaced by Robb Pritchard) gives a truly inspired performance. His haunting vocals are hypnotic and mournful, yet menacing.
According to their myspace, a complete lineup has been finalized, so here's hoping to see these guys live sometime soon.
Call to Satan
myspace
