I suppose I should have kept up with Revelation’s releases in recent years but I had good reason not to. Back in 1991, armed with 20 quid I went in to town in search of some good old Doom Metal records. I’d just read an article on the then “thriving scene” as Metal Forces put it, and it inspired me to spend my hard-earned on a few platters of misery. I already had stuff by Candlemass, Trouble and St. Vitus, so I arrived home clutching Count Raven’s Storm Warning, Solitude Aeturnus’ Into The Depths Of Sorrow and Revelation’s Salvations Answer…and 8 cans of Carling (I did say it was 1991 and I had 20 whole pounds!!!)
I loved the Solitude Aeturnus – the whole record just gelled instantly, the Count Raven took a little longer but I still regard it as a bit of a doom classic of it’s time and the Revelation? Great riffs – as good as any on the other two records, but as for the vocals – the guy couldn’t carry a note in a bucket! For me he ruined every song, I ended up swapping it with a mate for his Trouble Psalm 9 LP (yeah, I thought I did OK too…) and that same friend eventually bought Revelation’s follow-up Never Comes Silence (he clearly saw something I didn’t!), played me it at some point and again it left me cold in the vocal department.
More than 20 years have past, Revelation’s original trio have been together again for the last 5, recording new material and here we have their latest output Inner Harbor – so what’s changed?
Bugger-all really – the riffs are still great and the vocals are still crap! OK, that is a little unfair – the vocals have improved a little, hey, the guy even has a stab at vocal harmonies on two of the songs…he really nearly nails them too! But there is such a lack-lustre half-arsed feel to them that it just doesn’t work for me. I can hear the classic doom fans berating me already, complaining that the vocals are secondary to the music and that it’s more about attitude and whatever works for the song. And that’s fine – Lee Dorrian is a terrible ‘singer’ but a great ‘vocalist’ – he adds so much interest to Cathedral’s sound, and lets be honest, Wino only really has about 6 notes in his repertoire…but he really delivers them! John Brenner of Revelation has all the guitar prowess of any Doom axeman…but fergodsake let someone else sing??!!
Though actually, the biggest problem for me with this release isn’t with the vocals, it’s that the only great track is the opening title track – and it really is great! Every riff a winner, rivalling anything on the excellent latest Witchcraft or recent Angel Witch opus. You will struggle to find a better example of 80’s Doom Metal – the riffs, the time-changes, everything works together – even the ropey, rather weak vocals are fine because the riffs and solos just carry it. But that just makes everything else so much worse. For me the rest of the album has a tendency to meander around aimlessly. It has it’s moments, showing the odd sign of clout with some good lead-work and the ever-present riff machine, but then it just seems to subside away again. Their occasional use of an 80’s synthesiser sound is a step too far as well – retro is fine, but when you were there the first time round and it was naff then, maybe that’s not the retro road to go down… A shame really, their sparing use of keyboards sometimes adds another dimension to the album – as it does with a more epic 70’s mellotron style sound on the outro to ‘Jones Falls’.
In summary, if the aforementioned Solitude Aeturnus vocals of Robert Lowe get right on your nerves with his annoying tendency to hit all the right notes and sing in key, then this release is for you. If you just enjoy a few good 80’s Doom riffs and to hell with the vocals, then this also might be for you…it’s just not for me I’m afraid. One great song and a few scattered high moments does not make an album.
(5/10 – Andy Barker)
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