UNHOLY TALES FROM THE NORTH

Swedish band BURNING SAVIOURS first appeared back in 2003, and until they decided to split in 2008 they managed to release three studio albums. The band was resurrected in 2010, and following a period where the band released multiple singles that were later compiled into a full fledged fourth album, they released their fifth album "Unholy Tales From the North" through Swedish label Transubstans Records at the start of 2015.

Burning Saviour's chosen turf is vintage style doom metal, looking back to the grand masters of the 1970's in general and presumably Black Sabbath in particular for inspiration. One of many bands of that kind to originate from Sweden, a nation that appears to have a solid environment for bands of this nature to thrive in.

Burning Saviours should satisfy the core audience of that crowd quite nicely with this short and concise production. Clocking in at just over 28 minutes, the seven compositions explore this type of material with relative ease, featuring dark toned, slow moving and resonating riffs with a purebred classic Black Sabbath sound as well as less intense, firmer riffs that takes a step away from the original source to add variation to the landscapes explored. There's even a galloping style epic metal item at hand, a number that sounds like a cross between a Steve Harris penned epic tune and a lesser intensity Black Sabbath piece, which does work fairly well too.

The other side of the coin here is that the songs as such aren't all that memorable, and only on a few occasions does the band manage to include elements that elevates the overall experience beyond being a pleasantly engaging band inspired by Black Sabbath. The more careful When The Wolves Cried Out is possibly the most compelling of the compositions, and the Swedish language song Ondskan also stands out due to the vocals coming across better there. Vocalist Monks isn't the kind of vocalist that has the ability to elevate the overall experience with his voice, for me he comes across as passable at best, which the album does suffer ever so slightly from as well.

If you are in the mood for a band that know just how to create a new Sabbath-oriented piece with relative ease and appears to be firmly founded in the vintage era of classic doom metal, Burning Saviours is a band that should satisfy your needs quite nicely. But for those not already a part of that crowd, this album doesn't appear as one likely to recruit any new members into it. A pleasantly engaging vintage doom metal album, that should appeal quite nicely to those with an established interest in modern day bands exploring these landscapes.