Review: Conan - Revengeance

I have been listening to all kinds of doom metal lately and came across Conan when browsing for upcoming vinyl releases. Caveman battle doom. An interesting enough description to give them a try.

Quick Facts:

• Artist: Conan - www.hailconan.com/
• Album: Revengeance - released on January 29, 2016
• Version: Limited Edition, black vinyl - Discogs Link
• Label: Napalm Records
• Found at: amazon.de for 18,99 €

Revengeance was recorded at Skyhammer Studios in the south of Liverpool where "Electric Wizard" recorded their recent live album "Time to Die"and was pressed at Optimal Media in germany - one of the largest pressing plants in europe. Optimal Media has been in the business for 26 years. What made me very excited is their choice of James Plotkin for the mastering. Plotikin is specialized in more extreme metal and has workied with greats like Sunn O))) or Earth. Revengenace was released on 180 orange/black splatter vinyl (300 copies), 180g silver vinyl (200 copies) and black vinyl. The black vinyl version is also labeled as strictly limited but numbers were not made public, so this may just be due to marketing. 

Tracklist:

1.Throne of Fire - 04:31

2.Thunderhoof - 09:38

3.Wrath Gauntlet - 08:39

4.Revengeance - 06:10

5.Every Man Is an Enemy - 06:46

6.Earthenguard - 11:44

Gatefold/Cover Art/Record
Responsible for the amazing artwork is Anthony J. Roberts who did album art for Conan in the past. He is also responsible for the cover of Grand Magus - Triumph and Power. I strongly recommend to check out his work on his webpage www.blackmindseye.org. The gatefold material is standard quality. I have seen better quality but also worse. The record sleeve is plain black but anti-static. One of Roberts artworks is printed on both sides of the inner sleeves with the lyrics, additional information on the record and thank you notes on the right side. The back of the gatefold and the cover make up one picture when unfolded too. The record is plain black and pretty heavy with three songs on each side. I love the looks of the whole gatefold. It is definitely a standout in my collection. If I had to find a problem with this gatefold I'd say the font they used for the lyrics and the tracklist on the back looks a bit off.

The music:

The name is not a gimmick. Conan is angry, Conan is furious and definitely my go-to soundtrack for being chased by a horde of angry barbarians swinging their warhammers. The opener "Throne of Fire" sets a nice pace for the album before "Thunderhoof" crushes your bones in a groundshaking stampede. This is classic Conan only improved by the addition of Rich Lewis on the drums. All the little changes like adding the rather contrasting backing vocals of Chris Fielding really pay off. And with "Thunderhoof" and "Revengeance" they finally managed to create some songs recognition value. The lyrics are what you'd expect of a caveman/barbarian... rather basic. That's no problem at all as it fits perfectly in the whole theme of the band, their music and this album. More than three words in a verse are the exception, not the rule. "Revengeance" is a great album and Conan a great band and they definitely did a big step forward to stand out of the nearly endless pool of doom/sludge bands but are not quite there yet. Definitely not a mistake if you give this band a chance. 7.5/10.

Up next: Review of Rotting Christ - Rituals, a new design and some tips on vinyl related websites.

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