Wrath of Typhon - Speak from the Fire (Eleventh Key)

In a genre as rife with clichés as stoner/doom metal, it’s nice to hear a band who actually get it. York, PA’s Wrath of Typhon attack with a ferocious courage, blending Black Sabbath riffage with Motörhead‘s iron fist and an overall punk sensibility in song-writing.

“Rise King Rise” opens with a breakneck attack that’s somewhere between Slayer and Lemmy. The following “Avenger“ brings in the Cathedral-esque Sabbath rock that truly defines the band’s sound. Here, the band establish themselves as the groove-laden heavy metal powerhouse that gets your head banging in excitement, a trait that graciously consumes the remainder of the album and is particularly effective on “Consisting Of or Adjacent To,” “Give Us Back the Eye” (complete with Clash of the Titans sample) and the title track. Throughout, vocalist Crazy J screams with the tortured bobcat quality of The Derelicts‘ Duane Bodenheimer.

Eleventh Key’s digital release features a different song order than the band’s self-released CD, and adds three bonus tracks, all live, one a cover of The Mentors‘ “Peepin’ Tom” with Sickie Wifebeater playing guitar. It that doesn’t tickle your fancy, there’s probably some whining English band ripping off Kraftwerk somewhere in the Top 40. You decide.