Doctor Smoke - The Witching Hour (2014)

I might not cover it much on these pages, but stoner/doom metal and rock is something I spin often, almost as my own personal alternative to the repetitive hard/heavy rock radio stuff that holds little interest for me after the first few times I heard it. You'll often as not find me blasting some Corrosion of Conformity, Monster Magnet, Queens of the Stone Age and their ilk, and Doctor Smoke is a band that figures into that particular spectrum. Super catchy style reliant heavily on the grooving Sabbath style riffs but then making it their own, with more melody and harmony present. I am in turns reminded me of a 'cleaner' Uncle Acid, England's Green Lung or even the more obscure Swedish group Terra Firma who put out a couple records at the end of the 90s into the new millennium.

It's 100% guitar awesome-sauce here, every lick taking the familiar and improvising it just so slightly with a tasteful twist of note progressions. It flows more than crushes, so it's never verging on the drudge side of doom metal; at it's darkest, you'll get a bluesy burner like "Evil Man" which makes great use of the bass for the verses, perforated with little guitars that steer towards the chords of the chorus, or "The Seeker" which just burns you with great riffs and a hard rock structure. But it's never all that dark, which might seem a betrayal of the artwork, titles and lyrics, but that's about the only complaint. I'd say that the playing is more adventurous than your average stoner rock, there's just more going on, I don't know if it takes 'risks' per se but there's a bit more flair, like they don't want to be confined to the same conventions, and it always sticks to your ears, well-written and anchored by a flawless drum and bass combo that lets the riffing express itself but gives its some breadth and dimension.

The vocals are also really good, with a bit of that snide, acidic 'wasteoid' sound to them that we so love in Uncle Acid, but they're not as washed out or saturated. I think there are also some parallels to Swede hard rock/metal bands like Ghost or Chronus only the music here is far different beneath that piercing, melodic cleanness. Production is damn good too although this is something they'd improve with their  sophomore Dreams of the Dead a whole seven years later, an album that takes the concepts here and makes them richer, more complex and memorable; but make no mistake about it, The Witching Hour was a very solid start, an album I still come back to on occasion. Cool horror lyrics (even if the music doesn't contribute as much creepiness here), great riffing and singing make Doctor Smoke one of the more hopeful acts on the US scene that might be able to step into the footprints of the titans.

Verdict: Win [8.25/10]

https://www.facebook.com/doctorsmokeband