THEE PLAGUE OF GENTLEMEN
Primula Pestis
(I Hate Records)
43:53min

A capturing and interesting piece of harsh and surprisingly varied extreme Doom Metal THEE PLAGUE OF GENTLEMEN from Belgium offer on their debut album “Primula Pestis”. The band refers musically to such classic acts like WINTER, DREAM DEATH, early CATHEDRAL or SAINT VITUS as well by incorporating some noisier elements to GODFLESH or THE MELVINS. If you do not love all of these pretty different bands, this might be a rather shocking mixture, but if you give this act a serious chance you will be rewarded with an extreme, atmospheric, crushingly heavy and at times unusually aggressive piece of Doom. Also interrupting the slow sections with up-tempo outbreaks or some gloomy melodies proves to be very effective and lets “Primula Pestis” avoid the danger of appearing lethargic or boring. Another factor increasing’s diversity is vocalist Steve Mac’s incredibly variable performance that exposes hatred and rage as well as suffering and melancholic moods and is the icing on the cake of this great release. Even a little Doom-hit can be found on “Primula Pestis”, namely track 3 ‘The Ocean Has No Sides’ that floats on a nice melancholic groove until it culminates in a grand riff in the end. Impressive debut! ihaterecords.cjb.net, www.tpog.be

Stefan Franke

Stefan Franke

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