Place of Skulls
The Black is Never Far
Exile on Mainstream
They call him The Seeker
With doom metal, there’s so much emphasis on the sheer physicality of the sound, the heft, the muscle, the density of it all, that subject matter almost seems like an afterthought. We’re fine whether the band in question is singing about dope, the devil or dragons, just as long as they keep smothering us with that morass of Sabbatherian sludge. So complacent are we when it comes to doom lyrics, it’s all the more jarring when someone like Victor Griffin comes along to inject the music with genuine emotion.
With iconic collaborator Scott “Wino” Weinrich (Saint Vitus, the Obsessed) now out of the picture, Griffin takes Place of Skulls into uncharted territory on the band’s third album. Firmly rooted in the grand tradition of doom as Griffin may be (the intro for “Apart From Me” will have fans ecstatic), he comes into his own here as a pure songwriter, taking a subtler approach to the spiritually themed lyrics and displaying a knack for hooks that few younger bands are capable of. And the cozy mix emphasizes his robust, soulful voice and expressive soloing. Striking a comfortable balance between acoustic-tinged ballads (“The Black Is Never Far”) and more aggressive moments (“We the Unrighteous”), Griffin’s songs sound more philosophical than evangelical. The old Pentagram nugget “Relentless” is resurrected and re-energized, but it’s the stunning “Darkest Hour” that earns top marks, with Griffin striding into that valley of the shadow of death and emerging triumphant. —Adrien Begrand
