It’s Doom time! I know it might seem like we at MER have an anti-Doom agenda. Nothing could be further from the truth! However, this hasn’t been exactly the most Doom-filled year. That doesn’t mean we can’t run into interesting work. Look at what Solemn Ceremony brings to the table: rough and crusty music that promises to transport you to a much more relaxed world, away from the miseries of your anxious existence. Does it succeed, or can nothing save you from yourself? Slowly, we’ll find out.
Chapter III is what you need if you’re heartbroken since Cathedral decided to call it a day and do something more cost-effective than music, especially if you like the band’s earliest material. I think it’s a flattering comparison since that was the best era of Cathedral. Enough talking about the dead. Chapter III is wild, groovy, and has that highway feeling only Heavy Metal can capture. I know this album is trying to portray hell, but this hell feels kind of fun. Instead of unfathomable cruelty, I picture a place full of vice and unbound hedonism. So, hell for your granny, but for you, probably heaven.
I already hinted that Chapter III is unpolished, but similar to our review of Orange Goblin, it has the right type of mold (not the black one! Protect me, Satan!). You know, the kind you can eat in cheese. It’s purposely low-budget, but it makes it all more relatable. However, it did catch my attention that the guitar solos felt extra clean. It’s as if everyone stops getting everything filthy for a moment to let the sexy melodies come in. It’s an interesting detail that I appreciate. Great! But it’s time to descend to the actual hell—the setbacks paragraph!
My points are direct this time. First, the tracks do stay in the same place for a bit too long for my taste. It’s not that any track is 12 minutes of turtle-like slow Doom, but some of the riffs did become a bit repetitive after two minutes of them crushing me in a row. Second, I know I said it was cool that it sounded so much like Cathedral, but I would’ve liked to hear more of Solemn Ceremony‘s own identity. Maybe they should take a few risks? That would also help differentiate the tracks, as sometimes I had a hard time telling them apart, which is a problem I expect in an old-school Death or Black Metal review, not here.
If you miss the highway (how can anyone miss driving for hours!), the heat, and a vast sense of independence, Chapter III continues making you feel that way. It has a lot of Cathedral and Reverend Bizarre-worship, to a degree that kicks me out of the immersion a bit, but maybe that’s your thing. Also, look at that art! It almost makes you think you’re about to listen to something deeply horrifying, instead of the attitude blast you’re going to have.
Label: Self-released
Release date: 2 August, 2024
Website: https://www.facebook.com/SolemnCeremony
Country: Australia
Score: a fun ride in hell, or 3.0/5.0? You guys insist that I put numbers where they’re not needed!
Metal Eclipse Reviews 