Other than that they're from Switzerland I knew nothing about these guys. With a name like VOODOOSHOCK, a screaming face on the cover and a rendition of THE MOODY BLUES' "Nights In White Satin", is it any wonder I was expecting another blast of FISTULA/BONGZILLA-esque violence? Not that there's anything wrong with that…

Anyway, that's not what VOODOOSHOCK are about. Not at all. What we have here instead is a solid piece of old school doom metal. Think PENTAGRAM, ST. VITUS, THE OBSESSED (well, anything Wino-related actually), CATHEDRAL and of course BLACK SABBATH. The songs are all slow, riff-based, very heavy and most of ‘em quite long yet also quite melodic and very well sung.

Despite a name like VOODOOSHOCK you can tell by song titles like "Rainbow Sky", "Tomorrow's Bloom" and "Living In Paradise" these guys do not seem too interested in the worshipping of dark forces. Not that they sound like lovey-dovey hippie types or anything. It's just that the general atmosphere of this album is more mournful and melancholic than it is menacing. The old fashioned riffs (several of ‘em actually rather NWOBHM-ish!!), some nice twin guitar parts and the laid-back vocal style all add to this.

The cover version of "Nights In White Satin", which replaces the mellotron parts with twin guitars, is decent but unnecessary. Their own song material is strong enough to do without the covering of such artifacts. The last song "We Cry" illustrates VOODOOSHOCK's strong points best. Even though it's overlong (11.08) and almost unbearably slow it never gets boring. Fans of the bands mentioned above (or of that classic doom sound in general) can not afford to be without this.

- Van Hoften

OFFICIAL SITE: www.voodooshock.de

RELATED ITEMS: No related articles at this time.