Lord Sin – Confessions Review

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Label: Larvae RecordsEU  
Genre:  Psychedelic Doom Metal
Release Date:  13-12-2024

If you spend enough time mucking through the backwoods of underground music, certain descriptors raise red flags. It’s best to keep an open mind, but improvisation, psychedelic rock and doom in combination isn’t an auspicious sign. Despite all misgivings, certain hollers look too mysterious to escape a gander. Lord Sin think they can entice a journey out of me, but it’s up to their album Confessions to make me a believer.

Luckily for our ears, Confessions isn’t pure improvisation. Still, the duo behind Lord Sin elected to record the guitar and drums in a single improvised take, following up with synth, vocals, and bass. The result feels cohesive to a degree that I was not expecting, and coupling this with a warm mix and distinct instrument separation sets an inviting stage. The guitar carries a heft and a confident approach to its riffs and melodies. Most likely owing to the improvisational nature of their writing process, melodic ideas slowly churn and transform, flowing from one guitar part to another, interrupted with some truly sickening psychedelic guitar noodling. These moments of organic discovery feel like uncovering a secret shrine in a thick fog and are among the highlights on Confessions.

However, once the initial pleasure from these moments of discovery fades, the illusion of this particular spell does as well. No matter how many burbling synths Lord Sin deploy, nor how snarling the vocals are, Confessions never overcomes reality; this is nearly an hour of Lord Sin jamming on the same doom riff. There’s nothing inherently wrong with an extended, single song album. I wouldn’t be the heavy music fan I am today if a very hungover friend hadn’t played Jerusalem and Dopesmoker for me at teeth rattling volumes. I doubt Confessions will compel anyone to drop out of life with sin in hand though.

Fans of more dynamic and carefully composed songs will want to look elsewhere. Despite some smart choices and tasteful post-improvisation embellishments, Confessions is very one note. It is an interesting note, and in the right setting, Lord Sin could feel like dark wizards, conducting you through their unholy ceremony. Novelty cannot replace songwriting, though, and Confessions will not upend any doom titans already in your library.

Rating: High 4/10

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