I think it is fair to say that a follow up to Dool’s debut album Here Now, There Then which arrived early 2017 is highly anticipated. It was a magical album and definitely touched a lot of hearts with its sensuous riffs and melodies and that was hardly surprising seeing as the band included alumni from the much loved and missed Devil’s Blood. It also gave some of us an introduction to singer, guitarist and actress Ryanne van Dorst aka Elle Bandita who proved more than a match to the musical prowess and took the music to beguiling depths. They followed this up for me with one of the strangest shows I have ever been to playing in front of a bunch of free drinking record executives who couldn’t have cared less about the band at some sort of industry event but the few of us actually there for the band lapped up the performance. Well we are still awaiting new material but in the meantime we have this short but sweet EP to keep us company.
Yes you may have noticed the title and would be completely correct in assuming the song is a cover of the Killing Joke classic. It’s the reason I grabbed this despite not being a fan of the short EP release. It is one of my favourite ever songs by one of my favourite bands and has haunted me since it first hit the charts in 1985 giving the band their biggest hit and reaching number 16 in the charts. Naturally it has been covered by many in the past as have plenty of Killing Joke classics. Unsurprisingly none of them match the power and glory of the arcane English jester’s original material but who would have honestly expected them to? If you haven’t heard the original where the hell have you been and what rock did you just crawl out from under? Anyway the point here is to compare and contrast and Dool take the song and recognisably deconstruct it in their own somewhat sublime way. It starts with the unmistakable jagged riff that’s guaranteed to send shivers down the spine and then somewhat slowly and ponderously takes shape. I guess it’s an under-exaggerated version of the song, somewhat navel shoe-gazing in approach with the listener having to adapt to the feminine vocals rather than the clarion call of Jaz Coleman. It does pick up though with subtle shimmering power, vocals rising and its divine touch hypnotic and entrancing. It’s a fair homage to the original and believe you me if I didn’t approve the MP3 file would have been deleted in a heartbeat and never played again apart from getting scorn poured upon it review wise. A lot shorter than the original, perhaps that’s for the best, it does its job perfectly and moves on.
What it moves onto are two live tracks from 2018 Rock Hard Festival She Goat and In Her Darkest Hour, both of which you should be well versed in due to hearing them on the debut album. You definitely get welcomed back quickly into just how good the songs are along with a sense of how powerful the band are live. Now all we need is some brand new material and some shows to go with it. Until then……
(7.5/10 Pete Woods)
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