This is what happens when unsupervised youth is allowed to fester in a basement of cheap beer, dirt weed and Cathedral tapes. Groan are a 4 piece doom metal outfit with members spread out across the UK but close enough to Stonehenge absorb some of its triptych wicked powers. The Sleeping Wizard is their debut. 7 songs in 26 minutes makes it either a short album or a long EP, take your pick.
Musically, Groan is in the tradition of Black Sabbath influenced bands like Candlemass, Electric Wizard, etc but include a bit more Hawkwind than usual and some straight up classic rock, too. They also have great stage names. Thor’s Hammer pounds the drums, The Riff Wizard is obviously the guitarist, Mazzareth is the singer and the bassist is The Forest-Dwelling Fuzz Creature. The production is low budget, but suits the band well. The songs are bashed out with gusto and Mazzareth’s vocals are swathed in a “Planet Caravan” gauze for an outer space effect. I was hoping he would yell “take me to your leader” in one song, but there’s always next time.
All 7 songs are very solid doom metal jams, but “Witchy Woman” is probably my favorite. Sounds like someone replaced Master of Reality on the stereo with Burn and it opened a new avenue for these guys. David Coverdale wishes he wrote “she rides the Pegasus, she makes the priest forget about Jesus” on his new album. Other highlights are the anti-work “Psychedelic Demons” and the rampaging “Sleeping Wizard.” “Ride Of The Antichrist” sounds like something Raven might have come up with in 1981 after a heavy dose of cough syrup. Most of the songs are pretty fast, but album closer “Ancient Space (Master Of Time)” moves at a Sleep-y snails pace.
If doom is your bag, then give these kids some support. Just think of the jams they’ll come up with if they can get better quality weeeeed. Get in on the ground floor and Groan.
--Woody
Buy here: Sleeping Wizard
http://www.myspace.com/groanuk