On a random “new releases” search I came acrosss this L.A. psych/doom band The Crooked Whispers. I wasn’t really sure what I was looking for, but the skull with the sword through it, demonic stone cross, and sepia-toned feel of the album cover won me over. They had just released a new album called Funeral Blues, so why not fill my Friday out with that?
As soon as I hit play, The Crooked Whispers came through on the promise of that album cover. Chugging guitars, sluggish doomy tempo, and just an overall malaise permeated the music. Touches of Sleep, Windhand, Electric Wizard, and Sabbath were present in this psychedelic swirl of midnight mass metal. The only thing holding this all back is the tinny, Witchiepoo vocals.
If you can get past the vocals, Funeral Blues is a pretty good doom metal album.
The album opens with the upbeat-titled “Suicide Castle”. Chugging rhythm, saturated guitars, and a Sleep Holy Mountain vibe, this tracks sets the tone for the entire album. Vocals are just a little too screeched instead of sung. “Stay In Hell” continues that vibe but with less psych and with more of a mainstream sound. As mainstream as The Crooked Whispers get. Title track “Funeral Blues” gets thing back into more of a dirge. Guitars wail while the drums chug along as if on a war path.
The vocals by Anthony Gaglia seem to be torn between wanting to sing doom metal and black metal. Sometimes what he’s doing works, sometimes it doesn’t(at least for me.)
Tracks like “When Nothing Is Left”, “Crippled Shadow”, and album closer “Bed of Bones” show the band is in top form musically. Sonically the songs sound raw and in-your-face, touching on mid-90s Corrosion Of Conformity.
The Crooked Whispers’ Funeral Blues is a solid doom metal album with enough sonic touches that give it psychedelic swirls throughout. Despite some issues with the vocals, this is still a metal album worth checking out.
Complex Distractions 