Brummie five-piece Opium Lord gained huge recognition with their 2013 EP ‘The Calendrical Cycle – Prologue: The Healer’, managing to catch the attention of Candlelight who signed the band last summer, and it’s through them that the band release debut ‘The Calendrical Cycle: Eye of the Earth’.
If we were going to be lazy and end the review here, it would be easy to say that Opium Lord are the UK’s answer to Primitive Man and leave it at that. However, these guys are deserving of a far more eloquent description. The seven tracks on this record span just over 30 minutes, which may not seem a lot but there’s no fat or frills to this opus and the band get stuck straight in, making one of the most concise and cohesive releases you’re likely to hear all year. Everything is purposeful and compact; nothing feels as though it’s been put in as filler and not one of the songs can ever be accused of outstaying its welcome – every second requires your full attention.
The riffs metamorphose between minimalistic and primitive, to huge and suffocating and are complemented by a rhythm section more than happy to ease off when necessary to help intensify the dark and brooding atmosphere. The instrumentals are then rounded off nicely by a harrowing and stark vocal performance from Nathan Coyle, whose voice sounds as though he could be channelling demons filled with hatred.
While Opium Lord are often lumped into the categories of doom and sludge, this record will certainly whet the appetites of fans of death metal and hardcore, due to vitriol brimming over on each track and the sheer ferocity with which each track is delivered. While slow moving in places, it certainly doesn’t ever become dull, as even the sparser passages seem to writhe in the murk and sound just as evil as the faster paced sections. An impressive and wholly unforgettable first album.
(8.5/10 Angela Davey)
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