Album Review: Bone Church - Acid Communion
Reviewed by Neil Bolton
If you did fall for the fatal mistake of judging a book by its cover you would be forgiven for expecting to hear some Norwegian black metal when play is engaged for this album. But judge not! It’s not a burning church. Rather an artistic interpretation of the songs within.
Bone Church’s new album tells of a journey through a colonial time - New England U.S.A. With downtrodden towns folk suffering at the hands of a Satanic cult. So the album cover was not deceitful at all. This American four piece from New Haven, Connecticut, formed in 2016 and produce a kind of metal that would fit in well at the famous Woodstock Festival of 1969 and also at a modern day festival such as Bloodstock.
Track one 'Heavy Heaven' is a perfect example of this. A swanky riff leads into a crunchy riff before the vocals kick in. Nice clean rock vocals from Jack Rune guide us through accomplished guitar playing and choruses. If guitar players Dan Sefcik and Nick Firine do not have one foot planted firmly on the stage monitor at this point while playing live then severe punishments need to be dealt out.
'Witch in the Cellar' is obviously in the groove of the story of this album, but it also seems like whoever wrote these lyrics has an axe to grind, with an ex possibly. Once again this rocky and cool tune displays the skill of the band members, with drummer Rock Sickinger showing his skills around the kit. There are not too many songs with the word blues in the title that are not actual blues, and 'Bone Church Blues' is no exception. Blues right from the get go. A very good little tune, but does not, to me anyway, conjure up thoughts of Satanic overlords trying to hold sway over a medieval town. Nice though. 'Iron Temple' and 'If They Float' darken slightly, a bit doom in feel, and seems to be back in the story telling feel mentioned above. 'Acid Communion', the title track, is nearly nine minutes and a bit of an epic closer displaying all of Bone Church’s talents in one nugget.
Blues, rock and metal rolled into one enjoyable album.
Bone Church Release 'Acid Communion' via Ripple Music on 13th March.
