CENTURIONS GHOST (The Great Work) CD
Wow, what for a brilliant second album from UK's heavyweights CENTURIONS GHOST! I'm not sure, what was responsible for this giant step forward, that the band did with 'The Great Work', but their development since 2001 is impressive. 'A Sign Of Things To Come' was a strong debut, but this here is superior stuff. Maybe it's the change in the line-up, because three new members joined the band, or other facts that I don't know, but one's for sure: this album is not only a milestone in the short history of this band, but also one of the best Metal albums of 2007. They're taking influences from bands like Celtic Frost or Venom and mix it together with classic Heavy Metal and Doom Metal. Out of it comes a very own sound, that is massive from the first heavy chord until the last fearsome song.
This may sounds as if CENTURIONS GHOST could be compared to bands like Lair Of The Minotaur or High On Fire, but that wouldn't be exact. Although CENTURIONS GHOST did erase all the early Cathedral-influences, 'The Great Work' is more connected with Doom Metal, than any song from the two before mentioned groups. It's damn heavy, to write about single songs here, because the album is one tight unit, and the scary sounds between some of the songs are making the album to a very atmospheric trip. Despite of all brutality, the group is always ready to throw in some heavy grooves as in 'Walking through Walls', just to pick out one of ten songs or they have interwoven some hooklines. 'Let Sleeping Corpses Die' swallows the listener with heavy, grinding riffage, while 'I am God, You Are Denied' is rolling over you like a huge tank.
The word 'crushing' is often misused, but in CENTURIONS GHOST's case it is the perfect description for their inventive, hard-to-categorise slab of heaviest metal. Even the vocals aren't very typical, and I wouldn't be surprised, when singer Mark Scurr was also a singer in a Hardcore Punk band before he joined this gang. All in all, this is a stunning and brute album, which couldn't have had a better title than 'The Great Work'. My praise goes also out to I Hate Records for releasing one of the best heavy albums in 2007. CENTURIONS GHOST are mighty and superior!
(KK)