Worship New Gods

Worship New Gods, from Detroit's Coven (or Coven 13, depends where you look), starts out of the blocks like it is going to be a cool NWOBHM/Doom album. There are slow tempos, fantasy-based lyrics and that classic "garage" feel. Bands like Witchfinder General, Dragonslayer and Brainfever immediately jumped to mind. And it would be a pretty good album if it weren't for the dreadful singing of David Landrum. When he's in tune he's passable but when he's off, which is often, he's way off, missing not only the key but also the beat. If any of this is intentional it is ill advised. Worship New Gods has good songs, like "The General's Eye," with decent riffs and melodies but the vocals render them nearly unlistenable. And all the echo in the world can't save them.

I wanted to like this album because Coven have a good grip on the 80s sound, particularly the NWOBHM, but I can't. The singing is just too bad.