It's no secret that Howie Bentley is one of my favorite musicians. A man that grasps the essence of pure heavy metal so firmly, that each of his albums is a lesson on how the respective genre should be delivered. So after the epic holocaust of Cauldron Born, comes his new project, the doom trio of Briton Rites. This is a presentation on the two track demo predecessor of the band's upcoming album.

I'd say Briton Rites' style stands somewhere between early American doom in the vein of Psalm-era Trouble, the British style of Ozzy era Sabbath and the Swedish school of Candlemass, leaning more towards the latter two categories. The first thing that struck me was the guitar sound : The riffs sound absolutely MASSIVE, and the E-bending "ouaaaaouaaannn" 's sound heavy as tombstones! Both "Carmilla" and "A meeting in the woods" are quite lengthy, but contain a good number of tempo and riff changes to keep you interested. Speaking of tempo, the songs are quite "speedy" for doom metal standards, dwelling mostly in the mid tempo region with the occasional slow or fast break, bringing "Tales of Creation" era Candlemass to mind. The vocals of Phil Swanson (Seamount, x-Hour of 13) have an Ozzy quality to them, which -though not my favorite type of voice- fits the music quite well. The drums are handled by multi-talented Vainglory shredder Korbin King (who also did the re-mastering for Cauldron Born's debut), while Howie also plays the bass, providing us with some very groovy fills! As with all of Howie's projects, the lyrics are a huge chapter in their own right, so I'll let you discover the stories behind them by yourselves!

You can listen to both of the songs on the band's myspace page (check out the link below the review). Saying that I'm eagerly anticipating the album would be an understatement! Best of luck to the band with what is shaping up to be another Howie Bentley masterpiece!

http://www.myspace.com/britonrites

Review by: Asgardlord