Well folks, it is time to be 100% open and honest. Lord of Confusion is a band I’d never heard of, but after a wee visit to their page, I was happy to let the editor send me their album for review. However, technology insisted that the act was ‘Evil Mystery’ and the album ‘Lord of Confusion’, so that when in my rare hours not working I tried to find it, iTunes just said “no”. Now that technological issues have been addressed and slapped into shape, it’s time to comment on the rather excellent music this Portuguese band has to offer.
Opening track ‘Land Of Mystery’ announces its presence with an intense amalgam of keyboards, guitar feedback and slogging bass and drums, hearkening back to an age of magick and mystery redolent of the massive sixties influence and heaviness of Vanilla Fudge and their contemporaries. Indeed, the band seemingly revel in such classic influences, not trying to claim to be progenitors of their sound, rather disciples of such acts as Black Widow and Jefferson Airplane. Is this a criticism? Hell no! If you’re willing to admit your influences, admit the good ones, and Lord of Confusion do just that. If, like me, you’re waiting for Blood Ceremony to release a new album (keep an eye out folks, it’s due), until then your retro soul will be sated by Lord of Confusion and this excellent offering. ‘Howling Void’ follows on all dark and heavy, like the next segment of an Amicus portmanteau movie; thematically the same, but with its own jarring and horrific identity. The keyboard is as tortured as if Keith Emerson were stabbing it with a barrage of Bowie knives, whilst the vocals match the heaviness with a near death metal growl. Any reader of this site will know I’m no fan of extreme metal, but the dark tones on offer perfectly counterpoint the psychedelic sustain of Carlota Sousa.
‘Interlude’ is just that, a meandering exploration of feedback that bleeds organically into ‘Evil Blood’, a slogging slice of Doom as good as you could ever hope to wish for as you travel through the realms of the dedicated retronaut, a sludgy helping of the fate laden and the dour that should appeal to those who want to experience the low of tone and slow of beat. ‘Witchfinder’ somehow distils the hour and a half of the late lamented Michael Reeves movie into a mere seven and a half minutes of rock, whilst the epic closer ‘Hell’ just screams of a necessity to be played live at Freak Valley to an audience of the long of hair and wide of flare, exploring as it does the deep riffs that were once the sole realm of Electric Wizard before that legendary act hid from the public in the armour of their own reputation.
I’d never previously encountered Lord of Confusion, so to have their CD ‘Evil Mystery’ land on my doormat was a privilege, allowing as it did for me to hear a young and genuinely hungry band as it did. As a debut album, this ranks with the best of the genre, and please, let me recommend you at least listen to this band, and better still, buy the album.
(8/10 Spenny)
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