This is, without doubt, the oddest release to have come my way in a long time. Sabbath Assembly take, reprocess and spit out the works of The Process Church of the final judgement in the form of seventies-inflected psychedelic works that sound as if they are at least acquainted with several different and potent drugs if not fully immersed in them.
Opening with the Doors-esque ‘Glory to the gods in the highest’ the music is fantastic, even while the lyrical matter may prove too much for some and the talent that lurks at the heart of this bizarre band is indisputable. ‘Hymn of consecration’ equally sounds like it’s some long-lost relic from Woodstock, all reverb-drenched guitar, powerful vocals and lazy drums. Better still is ‘And the phoenix is reborn’, a minor key and bass-drum-led track that adds an unsettling element of menace to proceedings and drags you from the lush warmth of the first tracks into a darker, more paranoid trip that threatens to tip you over into spiralling insanity at any moment. ‘The saints shall inherit the earth’ is less successful, sounding more like the closing credits to a low-budget psychedelic movie with the warbling vocals offering nothing particularly interesting and the music less inspired than on earlier efforts.
Happily the lack of inspiration does not last and ‘the power that is love’ is a sprawling gem of a track that sits somewhere between a James Bond theme tune and early Pink Floyd. It’s a memorable track that sums up the band neatly in one three minute presentation. ‘Glory hallelujah’ is another disappointment – sounding more like a pastiche than an original track and just far too fey too be recommended here. The best track, however, is ‘The judge of mankind’ which is an eight minute musical journey that heads out into the peyote strewn desert never to return. Following such a track, ‘we give our lives’ is a gentle moment of relaxation offering up the souls of the singers to lord Satan, before the closing strains of ‘in the time of abbadon’ closes out the disc leaving the listener just a little perplexed.
In belonging to a cult that worships Satan as readily as Christ, Sabbath assembly are open to all kinds of criticism from both religious types and their opposite numbers. However, that is not for us to judge as we are here to concentrate upon their music and the music is generally very good offering up a taut psychedelic experience that has moments of pure genius. Slightly too long, and with a couple of moments where the quality dips significantly, this is an album that will appeal to those who have yet to escape the damaged charms of music by artists such as Syd Barret, the Doors and the like but the lyrical themes may prove a sticking point for some. Nonetheless this is an interesting album that stands out by virtue of its uniqueness and commitment to a cause, no matter how dubious!
