Review of Black Lodge - "Covet"

[Richard Stuart]

Ave readers. Today's review is for "Covet" by Black Lodge, who
are a Norweigian band (they're not black metal, though). This album
has actually been available since last year, but I only got it
recently, and it only cost me five quid, too. There are 7 tracks, and
it lasts for 51 minutes 47 seconds. It's also on the Head Not Found
label, which as I'm sure you know is run by Metalian, the same bloke
who writes the infamous Slayer zine.

I would personally label this as doom metal. There are also some
other musical influences, however... a bit of industrial (luckily
not much, since I don't like industrial) is evident in some
places, and track 2, "Mother Urge," is in a "hardcore" style,
believe it or not. Generally, though, the music is very slow,
and quite similar to Cathedral's "Forest Of Equilibrium" album.
The guitar tone is certainly reminiscent of old Cathedral, being
down-tuned and quite empty sounding as if they're only playing
half a chord. The melodies aren't very memorable, as they often
sound as if they were played at random. This is especially
evident during the first song, "Dissonance." For some reason,
"Dissonance" happens to be my favourite track, too.

The vocals are also a bit like old Cathedral, in the way that they're
not quite death metal growls, but sound very close, if you know what
I mean. There is also a lot of female singing, however, courtesy of
Monica Pedersen, who has quite an angelic yet also a sorrowful voice,
which alternates between a semi-wail and actual "singing." The
combination of the two vocal styles being sung over the slow music
sounds quite mournful.

Since this only cost me five U.K. pounds, I think it was a fairly
good purchase. It's good for what it is (that must be my phrase of
the year!), however I must stress that there are other bands who
are a bit more effective at playing depressing, doomy music, so
if you can't get "Covet" cheaply, it may be more worth your while
trying something else.

Rating: 7 out of 10.

-Ricks

_________________________________________________________________
NO FUN... NO CORE... NO MOSH... NO TRENDS

"The urge... so strong, to do the devil's work..." -Darkthrone
_________________________________________________________________