Grand Magus: Monument

CD, Rise Above Records 2003

Track list: Ulvaskall (Vargr) - Summer Solstice - Brotherhood of Sleep - Baptised in Fire - Chooser of the Slain (Valfader) - Food of the Gods - He Who Seeks Shall Find

If you like thick 70's-ish heavy metal sound, doom metal and stoner, Monument might be just the thing you need. Vocalist JB (also known from Spiritual Beggars) is an excellent stoner vocalist and the trio backs the vocals up with thick layers of base-heavy metal sound. The album ends with the epic "He Who Seeks Shall Find", most of which is very slow (the album has generally slowish and drowsy tempo) doom crawl. Other songs also reach the same quality. Monument is, indeed, monumental. ****