Hour Of 13 - Black Magick Rites - LP COLOURED

By now, HOUR OF 13 should require little introduction. For the better part of two decades, mainman Chad Davis has pursued a unique and intensely personal iteration of traditional doom metal. Along the way and over the course of three albums and numerous EPs, HOUR OF 13 have built a formidable discography that's amassed a fanatic following awaiting each spooky 'n' somber offering Davis and his rotating cast of cohorts creates. And while he's released records for a variety of labels over the years, in between a couple breakups, Davis brings HOUR OF 13 back to SHADOW KINGDOM, who released the band's self-titled debut album in 2007 long before the hype started.

HOUR OF 13's first full-length offering in over eight years, Black Magick Rites was available digitally on November 1st, 2020 for only 24 hours. Just as uniquely, Black Magick Rites also marks the first HOUR OF 13 album where he handles not only all instruments, but also all vocals. Indeed, Davis' vocals evoke an ancient nostalgia, of doom metal before it was "doom metal" - of the days when bands like Black Sabbath, Pagan Altar, and Witchfinder General simply followed their respective muses wherever it took them. And for Davis, Black Magick Rites sees him taking his HOUR OF 13 muse toward a rougher, more rock 'n' roll expression and yet tinged with an emotive melancholy that resonates deeply within the soul. No, no flavor-of-the-week "occult rock" cliches here, for Davis still prizes blue-collared authenticity in his doom, but he likewise never lets it hamper his immediately recognizable songwriting, which here ever so subtly inches closer to classic deathrock territory (think the likes of early Christan Death and Voodoo Church). Naturally, with a title like Black Magick Rites, an indulgence in occultism is expected, and you can literally feel the fingers of the black beyond reaching out to you across every electric minute of this 44-minute monolith.

Despite those isolated breakups, HOUR OF 13 continue to get better with age. Perfectly titled as any record in their enviable discography, Black Magick Rites is the sweet sound of salvation...through damnation.