Member:
AdmKirk
(Profile)
(All Album Reviews by AdmKirk)
Date:
9/3/2009
Format:
CD (Album)
Described as psychedelic doom, which is a nice way of saying, "We sound like Black Sabbath", Elder is definitely not the Moody Blues. This is not happy, uplifting music.
Let me put a disclaimer on this as well: This isn't my particular cup of tea. I've never been overly fascinated with doom and gloom metal. The occasional song is OK, but a whole album of the stuff really doesn't do much for me. There are other people more qualified to discuss this music than me, but sometimes you get CDs that you think are one thing and are really something else entirely. With that in mind, here's what I think of this album:
Elder, from Massachusetts, consists of Nick Disalvo on guitar, vocals and the occasional keyboard, Jack Donovan on bass and Matt Couto on drums. Disalvo has studied the Iommi songbook very closely to come with guitar riffs that will remind one of classic Sabbath immediately. Disalvo's vocals don't really recall Ozzy too much. In fact, in spots, they remind me of Gene Simmons, particularly the fourth track, "Ghost Head". The vocals don't go into Cookie Monster territory, but they do get rather low. While the lyrics aren't included I don't get the impression he's singing about wood nymphs floating over a mountain valley under the harvest moon.
Donovan and Couto are fairly tight in the rhythm section allowing Disalvo to do the heavy lifting on these 5 tracks. The most interesting of the tunes is the 9 minute + "Riddle of Steel, Pt. 1". It's got a few interesting developments and a few cool turns along the way. For the most part, this is fairly typical doom and gloom metal. So if that's your thing, Elder is worth checking out
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