Lord of the grave have the sort of cover art, the song titles and the attitude that marks out doom-laden stoner rock as one of the coolest genres on the planet. Remember the first time you saw Dave Wyndorf, leather-clad and burning a guitar? That was pretty damn awesome wasn’t it? And it is into that primal, destroy-or-be-destroyed sensibility that Lord of the grave have tapped on ‘green vapour’, a five track record that is the musical equivalent of sucking on a five litre bong at five in the morning whilst hordes of your companions lay slain upon the floor crying for sugary tea and cakes.
Even a cursory glance at the title list informs you of the sort of ride upon which you are embarking. Opening track, ‘raping zombies’ demonstrates the band’s knack for crafting apt titles and, as the lethargic guitar riffs struggle from the speakers to a beat that is not so much set to a rock template as to the martial beat of hells armies as they finally march on earth, you’re swallowed in a dark fug that resolutely refuses to lift until the album has churned to a close some fifty minutes later. As an opening number it inspires confidence with its sheer, oppressive, Reverend bizarre loving weight. It crawls, it slithers, and it creeps deep within your soul, blotting out the light and dimming the senses. As unstoppable as a cataclysmic event and as mean as an ill-treated animal, it is a stunning opening gambit. The title track follows, some fourteen minutes after the album first opened fire upon your senses, with a gentle, creepy figure that seems at odds with the devastation that surrounds it. Of course it is not long before the riffs return, smothering any attempts at subtlety in a withering flow of napalm. As ‘horsepuncher’ groans into view, the riffs buckling at the knees under their own colossal weight, it is clear that Lord of the grave are indulging in a massive battle of attrition, slowly crushing you under the wheels of their superior numbers. Unlike its predecessors the song does gain a brutal momentum that is all its own, the percussion and guitars suddenly blazing with infernal life before slowing down to a viscous trudge once more, leaving you briefly exhilarated but ultimately defenceless in the face of such an onslaught.
The final two tracks of the album offer little respite. ‘Mountain rites’ opens with the drums blazing out a beat before the guitars slither into view once more, the speaker cones vibrating and disintegrating under the sheer weight and volume of the riffs, whilst the solos flood out like so much spilled liquor. It is epic, surging brutality made sonic reality and doom fans will be in raptures over the searing, unpleasant miasma the band seem to so effortlessly conjure up. The final track, ‘00/15’ is also the most relaxed in terms of vibe. With a greater emphasis on both groove and melody, the vocals come to the fore as the guitars weave their black magic behind them, and the song eases the listener out of the herbal reverie in which they have been absorbed for the previous forty minutes.
Such visceral doom is clearly not for everyone. Those searching for an adrenalin-charged fix of blazing metal need look elsewhere, but for those who worship at the altar of Sabbath and Reverend Bizarre, ‘green vapour’ is a brilliantly misanthropic way to spend an afternoon, wreathed in smoke and lost to the catastrophically heavy guitar work of the mighty lord of the grave.
