The first song on IRON HEARSE's "Rocktopus" is about. . . a Rocktopus, which may be something like Lemmy with tentacles. TENACIOUS D wish they could rock this hard. But not everything is so over the top: we also get zombies sent to work in mines ("All Graves Empty"), and the fabled Gorgon ("Gorgon's Kiss"). Obviously this isn't an album for the easily spooked. As the song title "Crown of Doom" and label name PsycheDOOMelic suggests, this is doomy rock with psychedelic influences and aspirations to majesty.

The music tends toward hard rock rather than metal, paying homage to 70s giants like BLACK SABBATH, ST. VITUS and PENTAGRAM while also incorporating the DNA of more current doom-mongers like ELECTRIC WIZARD and ORANGE GOBLIN. Rather than aiming for the Ultima Thule of sludge and drone so many modern stoner rock bands aspire to, IRON HEARSE scale back to the more straightforward rollicking bluesiness of the genre's originators, achieving a measure of distinctiveness in the process. The vocals are cleanly audible and upfront, the rhythm heavy but not overpowering and the subject matter ("Chronovisor" is about time travel) accessible to Michael Moorcock fans the world over.

Obviously those seeking an aura of unholy menace to their metal won't find it amidst this relatively laid back fare, which seems more inspired by Halloween than All Hallow's Eve. The groove is heavy but not ominous and the atmosphere darkish but not black, pomp but not pompous. Think more along the lines of Ozzy singing about maniacal gypsy women than deals with the devil. Yet the musical quest to be none more black often ends in colorlessness, and IRON HEARSE succeed in implanting personality to their own murky haze of stoner grey.

- Shragge

OFFICIAL SITE: myspace.com/ironhearse

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