Ever encounter a psych or doom stickler that slams 80s metal? Doesn't happen every day, but they're out there. Can you imagine? NIGHT SUN but no TANK? SALEM MASS but no JAGUAR? Who could deny that those SOLITUDE AETURNUS riffs don't sound an awful like FATES WARNING records spinning at 17rpm?

Well, it would be easier to pluck the eyebrows of an angry mountain goat than to untangle PALE DIVINE's fusion of classic NWOBHM and spooky, lurching doom. It seems almost fitting in the ironic, stranger-than-fiction world of music reviewer-dom that a band based about an hour's drive from my house sends me a release by way of Austria. Well, I stopped trying to figure out logistics stuff like that years ago. At any rate, we've come to expect great things from the Psychedoomelic camp, and this reissue is no fast-food release. This baby gets the royal treatment with exquisite, glossy illustrations, full lyrics spread, and two live bonus tracks. "Magic Potion" blasts along like WITCHFINDER GENERAL plowing through a mound of broken headstones. "'Judas Wheel" is ten minutes of furious, buzzing wah attack and riff after riff capable of driving railroad spikes. Sure, the melody in "Starchild" sounds eerily similiar to CSN&Y's "Ohio", but that doesn't distract your attention away from its stirring, epic passages. Also included is a gritty chain-gang metal take on PENTAGRAM's (rather CAPTAIN BEYOND-ish) "Twenty Buck Spin". Powerful, striking, and addictive, "Thunder Perfect Mind" is a must-have for any metal fan.

Oh...and Greg Diener's guitar tones...well, they sound like they're straight off "Ride the Lightning", in case you're interested.

- Marchman

OFFICIAL SITE: www.paledivine.com

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