(TheBRHM.com) This album is something a little outside of what I prefer listening to. I prefer a faster-paced metal journey but Smoulder delivered something that has me reconsidering slower tempo metal. Of course, it helps that Smoulder’s music is rooted in tales of gritty, primordial fantasy. Epic doom metal, fantasy-themed doom metal, epic heavy metal—wherever it falls within those categories, I want more of it.
Smoulder and 80s Epic Heavy Metal
My first taste of this kind of epic heavy metal was in listening to Cirith Ungol and Manila Road—particularly their albums centered on Norse folklore and history. At the time, Manila Road hit while Cirith Ungol took a few years and listens to get into my regular 80s power metal rotation.
That isn’t to say Smoulder is purely rooted in doom metal. Their debut release Times of Obscene Evil and Wild Daring does lean towards the doom side on some tunes but there are a few speedsters in there. Smoulder will get the cement out if a tale calls for it on this album.
Before we get into the actual music here—I enjoy album cover art. The art for Times of Obscene Evil and Wild Daring and the follow up Violent Creed of Vengeance have some incredible, 70s and 80s fantasy novel-inspired covers. That will be a discussion for another piece.
Let’s dive into both sides of the album and see what tracks stood out and how strong the opener for this release is.
A-Side of “Times of Obscene Evil and Wild Daring”
Kicking things off is “Ilian of Garathorm” which is centered around the Michael Moorcock character of the same name—an Eternal Champion. Going with a Moorcock character or theme lets me know which end of the power metal spectrum we’ll be vacationing in on this album. We’re talking battles, figures with questionable motives, and exploring magic and mysticism. Lyrically, that’s all right up my alley!
As for the track itself, it’s good and has a nice, mid tempo with a good amount of heaviness. The leader singer gives me Geddy Lee doing power metal vibes but I don’t want to use Lee as an example or comparison because the singer’s vocals are familiar to a few other singers in the same genre.
Also, I’m no musician and I don’t have a background in production or music engineering but in this song, I noticed something: the bass guitar is important in rock music—especially in genres like doom metal but it doesn’t sound as robust as you’d think it would. Despite that, Smoulder managed to deliver a heavy album.
“The Sword Woman” was similar to the opener and pretty much kept the atmosphere of the album’s storytelling. Nowhere near a bad song but it didn’t really stand out . What did stand out was the A-side closer, “Bastard Steel”. It slams and is more my speed. Digging IT.
Strongest Tracks: Bastard Steel
B-Side
The opener for the B-side is “Voyage of the Sunchaser”. It has a lengthy opening handled by the guitars and drums before we get vocals almost two minutes in. I’m not the biggest fan of songs that take a bit to get the entire band involved but I enjoyed this. Business picks up in the second half of the song where it just rides.
While the vocalist is there, this seemed more like a showcase for the rest of the band and it was a heavy, rocking one. Plus, a story is being told in each song so each one doesn’t need to just rip and ride throughout—mind you, that’s right up my alley—but certain songs require pacing and build to those moments as the story requires.
“Shadowy Sisterhood” is another tune that starts off slow, making use of the band’s mastery of heaviness for a story to set the tone. Midway, things pick up just a notch as the story goes into this ritual and I really enjoyed how the singer put some screeching emphasis on:
“COAT! THE DAGGER! MYSTIC! FLAMES!”
Love that. It was midway through the song but it was still just—chef kiss. Great sh**.
The album’s closer “Black God Kiss” is a bit of a giant at 9-minutes—which is fine for a band that mixes it up with doom metal and epic heavy metal and has songs that are more one or the other. As you may have gathered, slower tunes aren’t my cup of tea but so far Smoulder has impressed me and this is the best example of them mixing the two genres in this album.
It has the crawling, weighty tempo to lay the groundwork for another tale with a doom approach before sprinkling in some speed from epic heavy metal towards the end. It’s a great piece well worth the listen. Actually, the whole album is worth a listen. There was only one song that I wasn’t all in on with the first listen—“Voyage or the Sunchaser”.
Strongest Tracks: Shadowy Sisterhood*, Black God Kiss
Strength of the Opener: “Ilian of Garathorm”
The opener was fine knowing what to expect heading in. I definitely would’ve picked “Bastard Steel” as the opener purely because the tempo is what I prefer but there was storytelling being done here. It wasn’t like an anthology of tales in album form, so the track listing is what it is.
Staff Writer; James “Metal” Swift Jr.
This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.