TevertsThere are plenty of stoner metal bands around the world with a very common mission statement and, indeed sound. That’s natural. I find it a difficult thing sometimes, because there is often a fine line between influence and imitation and I guess it really comes down to execution. Teverts is a band that I find myself asking questions of. “Towards The Red Skies” brings six tracks that, without a doubt, absolutely crank. They’re massive. The Italians really manage a big sound with vocals to match. Included in their influences are some English gents by the name of Orange Goblin and it’s evident early on that Teverts lean heavily toward this band’s sound. Does it detract from giving them their own identity? Possibly. Do they manage a good set of songs on this album? Let’s see…

“Control” simply has a classic stoner doom sound – and it’s very Orange Goblin from the start. There’s that really cool thunder from the riffs right through to those barked vocals that fans of Ben Ward will love. When they doom it up, Teverts also get a nice sense of Electric Wizard mixed with Kyuss that really gives it such a rich, big sound but it’s that brutal rawness of Orange Goblin that they really seem to lock into. There’s no questioning that Teverts perform it all with style and this track has “crowd pleaser” written all over it. Phil Liar handles guitar and vocal duties, both done with an obvious ton of passion which makes it hard not to warm to the band. They don’t really mess with the formula as the album progresses with the title track rolling right along with riffs that sound like a buzzing hornets’ nest. Vocally there’s a little Cronos style contempt on “Charles Dexter Ward” over some really punchy sounds that will satisfy.

One of the standout tracks is “Shine” which actually feels like it would be better suited to being the album’s finale. On what is a relatively short album, it’s also the longest track and the band has structured a piece that builds and builds nicely. There’s a couple of searing guitar solos that soak into some really meaty riffs and gives the impression that they are starting to push themselves. The Southern tinged start to “The Sanctuary” closes out the album with no real surprises – it’s simply big and has the feel of something that would work well live.

The running time of “Towards The Red Skies” is just under 30 minutes and that works pretty well. They’re a nicely produced bunch of songs that will satisfy but any longer and it might have felt a little laboured. While there’s not too much in the originality stakes, Teverts have still put together a neat, no filler album that will satisfy fans of the genre.

(6.5/10 Johnny Zed)

https://www.facebook.com/tevertsband

https://teverts.bandcamp.com/album/towards-the-red-skies