Lifer – Black Mountain Rising CD (House Of Doom)
Second full length release for the increasingly beardless Welsh Metallers; yet despite the receding facial hairlines the band have developed a more unique sound of their own on this release. There’s definitely an element of Pantera/Down/Corrosion of Conformity to the proceedings, particularly on instrumental opener ‘Sorrow Bloody Sorrow’ which sounds a tad like COC’s ’13 Angels’, but apart from that this is a more focused and original sounding Lifer particularly on the heavier than a heavy thing ‘Bastard Sons (of Sabbath)’ or the Motorhead-esque ‘Year of the Hog’. Chunky, fleshed out guitars and punchy bass (see ‘Wired’ for some lovely twang) dominate the sound with vocalist Richard Scrivens’ Anslemo style growl spitting out the lyrics as if the very presence of them leaves a bad taste in his mouth, and Greg Ward keeping the whole engine powering forward with some ferociously solid drumming. Tim Hamill has done a top job on the engineering which is clear, punchy and heavy. A must have for metal fans. Ian Pickens