Black Hole - Land of Mystery (1985)

Black Hole are one of the earlier bands to latch onto that Sabbath sound and then morph it into something new with a heavy dosing of 70s prog rock influences, and Land of Mystery is almost a singular piece of inspiration from that mid-80s period where bands were more about the glam or intensifying heaviness that was being ushered in through the thrash metal, crossover and proto-death. I say 'almost', because we did have the Death SS and Paul Chain stuff, but this band definitely had their own style to it which has grown on me over the last several decades since I first heard it. No, this wasn't a record I picked up on its first run, but even in the earlier days of the internet metal buzz I remember it being referred to on numerous occasions and ultimately got a listen in.

This is definitely a spooky one due to all the sound effects and experimentation they use, in fact it does parallel the fellow Italian band Goblin if you sort of mashed them together with some old Sabbath. The vocals of 'Mysterious Future' Robert definitely emulate an Ozzy-like inflection, with some of the syllabic patterns similar, but the melodies and accent in the voice differentiate it, and he also plays around with it a lot more in the upper register, as if voicing different characters; and gets a pretty wistful, wasted sounding middle range when it tapers off. What really keeps it fresh though is how the instruments play along with it, both the guitars and bass are pretty intricate, the synthesizers, organs and pedalboard also play a bigger factor then you'd think. They'll just jam out on these little breaks as in the title track where all those instruments get to shine beyond the heaviness, and these are the parts in which you truly feel like you're in some old forgotten 'giallo' film being pursued by the mysterious killer and/or revelations.

They do have plenty of more evil, 'doom' riffs here as in "All My Evil" or "Blind Men and Occult Forces" which all might have appeared as B-sides from the Iommi camp a decade earlier, but even here there are embellishments like the creeping organs, elevated choir-like chants and that bass playing which felt like no other at the time outside of the prog rock. Another band I'd liken this one too would be the Japanese Flower Travellin' Band, they are a little more cinematic and instrumental and gave me more Iron Butterfly vibes, but I think fans of one of these would enjoy checking out the other. In fact, if you've got some patience, some love of any of the other groups I've mentioned here, or just old Italo horror soundtracks in general, then I would highly recommend giving your chance to experience this album. The songs are all aired out well, all 6+ minutes long, with interesting rhythmic breaks that give the impression of turbulent cinematic scenes, and it's genius enough that, had the band stayed the course, might have developed into something monolithic. They did reunite for some albums in 2000 and 2017, and they weren't bad, but a case of too little, too late. Land of Mystery was simply transcendent, but transcendent into a gloomy nether-realm of graveyards, demons, and masked necromancers.

Verdict: Epic Win [9/10]

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