NO HELP FOR THE MIGHTY ONES

I picked up SubRosa's NO HELP FOR THE MIGHTY ONES last year as they are label mates with Grayceon, a band I really love. Superficially, the sound is similar, a sludgy organic metal with some classical flourishes for ornament. But where Grayceon (and sister band Giant Squid) have taken the doomy post-metal formula into completely new territory, SubRosa still clings to the doom format a bit too tightly for my taste. When they actually do take musical risks, head into slightly progressive territory, I almost scream at the speakers "Yes, more of that!!!" But it's too little, too late. Too much sludge, not enough music.

Like most of this style of music, the Black Sabbath fuzz and dragging riffage is apparent. The opening guitar crash even subtly aludes to the first notes of "Iron Man." But Ozzy had a sense of melody. The almost monotonic drone of the vocals on this disc kill the whole project for me. Which is unfortunate, because these gals can sing. The a capella harmonies on "House Carpenter" prove that this band could have done something truly interesting had they thrown away the trappings of sludge and made something new. "Beneath the Crown" is promising, with an almost melodic vocal intro and a more fleshed out sound in the midsections. "Attack on the Golden Mountain" is also not bad. But frankly, even those are at best "Grayceon lite." The vocals need to be higher in the mix and more active. The violins need to be more complex, and have some lead time.

I really wanted to like this album. The cover art is phenomenal. When the violins are going crazy, the music has alot of promise. But I want to hear those harmony vocals and strings dominating the sound, not the fuzz. I've heard doomy fuzz 5000 times before. We've also heard druggy goth girl singing before repeatedly during the grunge era. Harmony female vocals in metal with violins from full band members? That would be something really unique. I will definitely be watching the reviews on future releases, but I'll have to hear something new before dropping cash on another release.

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