Sergeant Thunderhoof - Terra Solus (2018)

Kaleidoscopic Mushrooms from Outer Space

I stumbled upon Sergeant Thunderhoof a few months back while surfing through my YouTube feed. It was a music video of the band performing the first track off their debut full-length Ride of the Hoof. It sounded so effortlessly catchy and dynamic that I instantly

listened to the album as well as their first EP Zigurat. Technically the EP can be considered as a full-length since it clocks around 40 minutes or so. Anyway, both the releases not only met my initial expectations of finding a solid chunk of stoner metal but surpassed it as Sergeant Thunderhoof's unparalleled synthesis of Sabbathian grooves, transcendental psychedelia, and unpredictable hooky flair make them more than just a stoner rock band.

Enter Terra Solus, the sophomore full-length release by these psychedelic heavy rockers from Somerset, UK. It’s every bit of a consistent opus as their previous outputs and perhaps more sophisticated, diverse and expansive. Right off the bat the gigantic bottom-heavy Sabbathian lurch of “Another Plane” begins this loud, epic and trippy extraterrestrial journey. The pace and dynamic remain in the heavy territory with the thunderous riff-o-rama of “Stellar Gate Drive”. Even though this album is more of a cohesive, consistent piece of work with practically no filler, “The Tree and the Serpent” is still a definite highlight of the record for me. It’s a six-minute psychedelic spiritual trip surrounded with a hauntingly infectious verse-chorus structure carried remarkably by airy, bluesy reverberating rhythm section and Dan Flitcroft’s charismatic soulful vocals which peaks with Mark Sayer’s orgasmics leads. “Priestess of Misery” is another absolute favorite of mine. It’s a stupendous moody doom metal piece which shifts back and forth between sludgy grooves, haunting monolithic chorus and intense leads.

As I’ve stated earlier that Sergeant Thunderhoof is not easily categorizable, sure general genre adherents can associate them with the stoner/doom spectrum and I think the band is totally fine with that. But their emphasis on catchy grooves, huge chorus, psychedelic meanderings and overall memorable songwriting is as much aesthetically akin to Deep Purple, ZZ Top, Soundgarden as it is to Black Sabbath, Cathedral and Kyuss as well as Pink Floyd to some extent. A prime example of this is “Diesel Breath” which comes across as a groove-laden heavy rocker at first until the grinding metallic crawl of the bridge and the soul-searching Floydian culmination of the outro. 

“Half a Man” is a really different sort of piece altogether which evokes a ballad-like feel upon

first listen but It’s not really a ballad. It’s simply an introspective, heartfelt, quiet vocal-driven atmospheric tune. The dreamy, pensive psychedelia of “Om Shaantih” brings closure to the contrasting, kaleidoscopic trip that is Terra Solus. Call it metal, heavy rock, stoner, doom or whatever, Sergeant Thunderhoof is definitely one of the most original sounding entities out there right now and I hope that they will continue to impress us with their mercurial brand of heavy rock for years to come.


Terra Solus is scheduled to be released on May 12th. Pre-order is up on Bandcamp for limited edition vinyl, limited edition cassette, compact disc and digital download. You can stream the first track "Another Plane" via the Bandcamp attachment below.






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Cathedral - The Last Spire (2013)

"The Circle of Time Has Stopped":

Cathedral have always set themselves apart from their Black Sabbath worshipping peers. From the proto-funeral doom dirge of Forest of Equilibrium to groovy hard rocking bluesy metal oriented mid career to 70's progressive rock

influenced stoner/doom of The Guessing Game, they have incessantly re-invented themselves over the period of their legendary 25 year career which has been concluded with The Last Spire.

In Lee Dorrain's words "The Last Spire should have been our second album". Absolutely, spot on. The Last Spire ventures back to the dirgy gloom of their debut with a slight tint of progressive tendency. The guitar tone of Gaz Jennings on this record is heavy enough to crush the entire universe. The album begins with the eerie "Entrance to Hell" which is full of feedback and gonging bells with Lee Dorrian chanting "Bring out your dead" repeatedly in the background. It gradually delves into the longest track on the record "Pallbearer". "Infestation of Grey Death" starts with crushing riffs but has a somewhat upbeat mid section, clean acoustic passages during the chorus and a surprisingly soothing lead guitar melody after the second chorus. It's kind of a reminiscent of one of the band's classic tunes "Cosmic Funeral" and probably my most favourite song on the record followed by "Tower of Silence" which features an excellent palm-muted sludgy main riff accompanied by muddy basslines of Scott Carlson and mammoth stomp drumming of Brian Dixon. 

The album features guest vocals from Rosalie Cunningham (Purson) who is also featured on the video of "Tower of Silence" and Chris Reifert (Autopsy) has also lend his howls on "Cathedral of the Damned". Both of them have done commendable job in their respective departments.

Altogether, The Last Spire is hell of a worthy swansong for Cathedral. Not many bands can craft such a powerful and effective final opus which would solidify their legacy further and further. Now that the circle of time has stopped once and for all, we're doomed for eternity. R.I.P.

Rating - ★★★★★ (96% on Metal-Archives)