Bloody Hammers make the type of music that’s fit for planning a funeral and their new album Lovely Sort of Death riffs on that and an undying fascination towards the macabre. It’s devilish conduct comes with a generous euphony of goth, doom and is an open love letter to the esoteric.
Driving maudlin riffs along with spooky synths while taking inspiration from the likes of The Cure, Black Sabbath and even Fields of the Nephilim, Lovely Sort of Death measures up to take you on an abstract trip through the ether. Gently carrying you into a world of deep thought that offers more in each track than the initial listen will lead you believe. Where in dirge styled doom and precision based drum hits, augmented with those serendipitous keyboards, Bloody Hammers hit down hard on a base of honorific heavy metal.
Nihilism hasn’t sounded this sexy since Type O Negative. Bloody Hammers are a bit lower in the register than TON though but their shared influences make them twinned in stone. It’s obvious who wears the alternative universe evil-indicating goatee beard in this relationship.
Bloody Hammers blend their muses into the evil art of music. Wicked and wistful their energetic war marches are emblazoned with a sense of urgency that’s motive to fist pump, while their more melodic sonnets are cold, fog like beasts that move in and out of their own meta theatrics to ignite your imagination with dream-like candour.
Shaving some excess goth from their wolfish sides with uncomplicated verses and the focus on simple rhythms Lovely Sort of Death is a sensual kind of gloom. Invoking the kind of beauty that will give you tears, making you weep with forgotten nostalgia for loves long lost and wishing for easier days. Gloom and Bloody Hammers; Nailed it.
Yet their moribund scoring is a positive influence on the soul when supplanted by a feeling of catharsis in their choruses. These moments build and build further into an epic release that will leave you wanting more, or to key repeat. Courting a powerful expression will enthrall you and take you away to the sidhe. The fourth album from Bloody Hammers has just enough inflection to misquote some of goth ‘n’ rocks greats.
8/10
