Pilgrim – Misery Wizard.

The last few albums i’ve reviewed have been mainly thrash metal so now its time for some crushing doom metal from Rhode Island based 3 piece band Pilgrim. Formed in early 2010 they have released a stunning debut album, following on from their Forsaken Man e.p.  Misery Wizard is on sale now via Metal Blade records and is an hour long lesson in heaviness!

The bulldozing riff of opening track Astaroth is joined by a huge hum of feedback and the vocals follow choral like chants after 3 minutes. The vocals seem low down in the mix as if to give the music centre stage as the track lumbers to a close. The title track is next, almost 11 minutes long, starting so slow almost every bend of the guitar strings can be heard over a monotone vocal/drum delivery and as if the track was not heavy enough, another guitar track is added for the last 2 minutes for further effect. A distorted bass intro to the 10 minute epic  Quest is swamped by another huge grating guitar riff with pleading vocals, the track hitting a Sabbath groove halfway in and ending with the opening riff and some speaker splitting feedback.

The intro to Masters Of The Sky can only be described as the scene in the film Jurassic Park when the Tyrannosaurus Rex’s stomp makes the earth move with a cathartic vocal delivery by The Wizard ( Jon Rossi ), another lengthy dirge, clocking in at almost 11 minutes. Penultimate track Adventurer is the shortest and the fastest track on the album with a Children Of The Grave tempo. The vocals are further up in the mix topped off with a fine melodic guitar solo ending in a squall of feedback. Final track Forsaken Man has all the elements of the album contained in its 13 minutes of feedback drenched doomfest with a chanted prayer midway before the crashing finale,  a fitting end to an uplifting debut album by Pilgrim and i expect this material will kill in a live setting!

Band Line Up :-

Krolg- Drums.

Count Elric- Bass.

The Wizard- Guitars/Vocals.

Track Listing :-

Astaroth.

Misery Wizard.

Quest.

Masters Of The Sky.

Adventurer.

Forsaken Man.

I award Misery Wizard 9.5/10.