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Hollow Psalms

Hollow Psalms in Bloomington, MN
Current price: $38.99
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Hollow Psalms
breathes some new life into the old straightforward, guitar-based
black metal
style a la
Gorgoroth
,
Darkthrone
, or earlier
Dodheimsgard
. It combines a
punk rock
type of directness with the mysterious feel of that type of
(i.e., lots of ambiguous guitar harmonies and cold, repetitive minor-key guitar melodies), while also adding some other twists. The dual lead vocals of
Laurie Sue Shanaman
and
Christy Cather
consist mainly of intense shrieks and growls and sound pretty scary at times, bucking the trend of female vocals in
being gothy and pretty. Meanwhile, the bass and drums, without being slick or over-produced, are still actually well recorded, as opposed to the old
cliche of distant, barely audible bass and drums that sound like paper bags. Most of the songs hover in the five- or six-minute range, the main exceptions being the brief, semi-
ambient
interlude
"Tragedia"
(which has some nice flute playing by guest performer
Lorraine Rath
) and the 16-minute closer
"Awake to Gray,"
which ends with a slow, doomy section that makes a fitting conclusion to this emotional, often sad and despairing album. All told,
is artful without being pretentious, and it actually adds something to this fairly well-worn genre rather than merely imitating other bands' past glories. ~ William York
breathes some new life into the old straightforward, guitar-based
black metal
style a la
Gorgoroth
,
Darkthrone
, or earlier
Dodheimsgard
. It combines a
punk rock
type of directness with the mysterious feel of that type of
(i.e., lots of ambiguous guitar harmonies and cold, repetitive minor-key guitar melodies), while also adding some other twists. The dual lead vocals of
Laurie Sue Shanaman
and
Christy Cather
consist mainly of intense shrieks and growls and sound pretty scary at times, bucking the trend of female vocals in
being gothy and pretty. Meanwhile, the bass and drums, without being slick or over-produced, are still actually well recorded, as opposed to the old
cliche of distant, barely audible bass and drums that sound like paper bags. Most of the songs hover in the five- or six-minute range, the main exceptions being the brief, semi-
ambient
interlude
"Tragedia"
(which has some nice flute playing by guest performer
Lorraine Rath
) and the 16-minute closer
"Awake to Gray,"
which ends with a slow, doomy section that makes a fitting conclusion to this emotional, often sad and despairing album. All told,
is artful without being pretentious, and it actually adds something to this fairly well-worn genre rather than merely imitating other bands' past glories. ~ William York