GRAVEYARD DIRT (Shadows Of Old Ghosts) MCD
Sometimes a singer can ruin everything, and so it's the same with this resurrected Irish band, which has been formed in 1994, but split up in 1997. It makes no difference, if Paul Leyden sounds like a suffering viking or if he annoys with an overdose of spoken word-passages, because he's always able to kill my interest for the rest of the music. That's very sad, because GRAVEYARD DIRT have strong moments, especially when they play extreme heavy riffs and create an atmosphere of pure Doom. So I was really impressed after I listened to the first minutes from the opener 'Rise...Fallen Skies'. In such rare moments, the band is not far away from Bathory, when Quorthon recorded the masterpiece 'Twilight of the Gods'. The second track 'A Tearless Lament' is also very solid, but for my taste, their focus on gothic-kitsch is much too strong, and connected with the vocals of Paul Leyden it's just the next low point of 'Shadows Of Old Ghosts'. Especially all this orchestral stuff in the last song 'Gathering Storm' is much too much for me, no matter how heavy they can be within the song. And GRAVEYARD DIRT can be real heavy. Without all this orchestration, this last and longest song (over thirteen minutes) would have been a much better song. The production of all three epic songs is very good as well as the playing skills of each member, but that's not all what counts, and, at least, I always prefer classic Doom Metal instead of heavy goth-metal, which is hidden under the term 'Heavy Doom'. Sorry, guys, not my pint, but well executed! Did I mention that the band name is really cool?
(KK)