Voodooshock - Marie's Sister's Garden
Exile on Mainstream Records - EOM 026 - 9th March 2007
By Paddy Walsh
Another challenger to the retro-doom throne (currently held by any number of bands!),
Voodooshock attempt to successfully ape Ozzy-era
Black Sabbath,
Saint Vitus and
Trouble in a fuzzed-up haze of bongsmoke on their sophomore album, the awkwardly named
Marie's Sister's Garden. Opener 'Please Let All Truth In Your Heart', also nonsensically titled you might think, bursts out of the gates with a flurry if enthusiasm, all twin guitar leads, up-tempo doom riffs and the wails of guitarist/vocalist Uwe Groebel. This track sets a relatively high standard for the band to follow up on, as it actually has a hint of
Soundgarden's wonderful modern interpretation of the doom-rock aesthetic that works rather nicely.
It's unfortunate, then, that
Marie's Sister's Garden never comes close to emulating the successful merge of the classic and the modern that the opener promised. On the title track, Uwe's vocals begin to sound remarkably like those of
Witchcraft's Magnus Pelander, which inevitably leads to comparisons to the vintage-loving Swedees, and
Voodooshock certainly can't compare to their somewhat more authentic brand of retro-rock. 'Funeral Farewell' is an 8-minute slothful dirge, no doubt designed to conjure the classic doom dread for which it's associated, but it's actually rather tedious, the repetitiveness of the riffing failing to be offset by a non-existant atmosphere - a crucial element to doom. Uwe's vocals are strained throughout, at times wandering in and out of key, which may have been a deliberate Ozzy Osbourne-ism on his part, but it doesn't make it sound any less poor. 'Truth' is a case in point, Uwe's refrain of 'ooooooooh' sounding uneven, and on 'Custom-Made But Sacrificed' it's even worse, his performance sounding literally phoned-in, with the insertion of a trite growl at one point completely unecessary. It's hard to blame the production either, as
Marie's Sister's Garden sounds quite decent, if unremarkable, a nice fuzz-laden guitar sound is bolstered by thick-sounding drums, the main drawback in this area being the lack of a much-needed chunky bass sound in the mix.
Voodooshock may have some good ideas on
Marie's Sister's Garden, but it's hard to see them amongst the bog-standard doom rock that this is mostly comprised of. The songwriting is simply not strong enough to forgive the sometimes poor vocals, and at times the band seem unsure as to whether they want to be a total 70s throwback or a more modern,
Cathedral-ish adaptation of the
Black Sabbath blueprint. Please file under the 'must try harder' section.
Official Voodooshock Website
Official Exile On Mainstream Website
