Seven Sisters Of Sleep – Opium Morals.

Simon Bower 20 April 2013 Album Reviews

From sunny California comes one of the finest and darkest albums of 2013.

In ‘Opium Morals,SSOS may just have created one of the finest Black Metal tinged Doom albums of recent years. Seriously, this is an album that I can not and will not stop listening to. Ten tracks that all weigh heavy on the mind and soul, darker than Hades, more menace than Dennis, this is a release to scar and scare the living daylights out of you.

For a start, the vocal delivery just smacks of desperation, lamentation and tribulation, each and every lyrical segment designed to convey the seething from within, no mention of skipping through the tulips here, more of being dragged backwards through swathes of razor wire.

From the opening anarchic drones of ’Ghost Plains’ onwards, you will be totally consumed by the glorious and demonic riffs and hooks that fill every track to bursting point. ’Moths’ is a sumptuous fest of Funereal Doom that is as good as things could possibly get, followed swiftly by the ’The Flock’, a track that could easily have spewed from the depths of Hell itself, such is the weight of its crushing and ominous riff and delivery. The theme is pretty much relentless and merciless for the whole album duration and yet even though the power and vibe of it all is extremely depressive and dark, the whole thing gels perfectly, never wavering or faltering at any stage.

As a fan of Doom in general, this was an easy album for me to get into but it deserves a much wider audience, all Metal fans should make the effort to check at least some of the tracks on offer here (plenty on You Tube). ’Sunday Mass Grave’, for example, is a track that displays the amount of effort and dedication the band have obviously poured into recording the album and it is that level of commitment that shines through here, making it one of the best releases of any genre that I have had the pleasure of listening to so far this year. Ten tracks that you seriously do not want to miss. Highly recommended.

Track Listing;

1. Ghost Plains.
2. Moths.
3. The Flock.
4. Grindstone.
5. Sunday Mass Grave.
6. Orphans.
7. Reaper Christ.
8. White Braid.
9. Recitation Fire.
10. Part 2.