Blood Ceremony - The Eldritch Dark (2013)

Wow, what a disappointment. Don't get me wrong, BC haven't drastically altered their sound or anything, but they have consistently gotten more and more "light in the ass" with each release. Whereas their debut album was a refreshing and colossal slab o' doom, this is just basically a folksy sort of rock record, which, is not a terrible thing, but for anyone who was hoping that the band would return to the heavier sound of their first album, you can hang up your hopes and notions immediately.

I still prefer these guys as opposed to the millions of other female fronted/occult rock bands that have been cropping up like a bad case of genital herpes as of late. The tunes on this album are really not that bad, albeit a bit boring, and they certainly have a knack for conjuring that warm, late '60's/early '70's feeling that so many try and fail to capture. Again, I wish there were more doom riffs such as those found on the first album. That record sounded like the perfect combination of Sabbath and Coven with perhaps a dash of Mellow Candle to spice things up. This time around it seems as if the band grew tired of the doomier aspects of their sound and opted for a more lighthearted approach. I've certainly heard worse and for what it's worth, the band is good at what they do, but it would've have been nice to hear them take a slightly darker approach, nonetheless, no matter what the pace, Blood Ceremony are infinitely more interesting than the stupendously overrated 'The Devil's Blood'.