NINE ALTARS are hailing from the north of England and are named after a famous cathedral in their county. They present their first album “The Eternal Penance” via Good Mourning Records. The band plays a mixture of bands like SAINT VITUS, BLACK SABBATH, WITCHFINDER GENERAL or CANDLEMASS, just to name some similar bands. I personally hear a lot of BLACK SABBATH in their sound especially when it comes to the vocals. The opener and title track ‘The Eternal Penance’ offers all trademarks of this genre with damn good songwriting, instrumentation and vocal work. The guitars often come close to Death / Doom, but mostly stay in the classic Doom area. It must be in the dna of bands from North England to write this kind of miserable music filled with mourning and grief. The song is so sad and only the vocals keep the listener from drifting away as they are less mournful than Death Metal grunts, but still intense. The second track ‘The Fragility Of Existence’ has some CATHEDRAL vibes from their second era in it and is a bit more ’70s orientated than the first track. It easily could have fitted on the first outputs of BLACK SABBATH and is their personal homage to these gods without copying them blind. Fantastic work. Especially the drum work is worth to mention, which might sound simple, but is far away from that and well thought and technically brilliant effected, solid work. And the guitar solo in the middle really shows their huge talent and songwriting skills. The third and last track ‘Salvation Lost’ is an uptempo track with some IRON MAIDEN vibes paired with their Doom Metal style. Definitely another side of them and not a bad one. The vocals once again remind me of Ozzy, but this is not bad at all. Even though I must admit that I normally don’t like vocals which are not grunted, but this output really caught me and is fun to keep on heavy rotation. A nice surprise from the North and I hope this was not the last effort they present us. Well done, thank you very much. More information at the following sources: www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064321533637, www.facebook.com/goodmourningrecordsuk, www.journeys-end.de