ALBUM REVIEW: From The Graveyard – 1782

It’s appropriate coming off the back of International Women’s Day that 1782 would release their sophomore album From The Graveyard. The band preoccupy themselves with the unjust, misogyny led trials of ‘witches’ throughout the Americas and Europe. Even the name, 1782, links to Anna Göldi, a Swiss woman who was executed in the titular year and the last European murdered for witchcraft.

Released by Heavy Psych Sounds, this Italian trio offer up eight tracks of classic sounding doom. Opening with howling winds and ominous bell tolling, they slip into BLACK SABBATH worship with The Chosen One. Groovy, blue-laden riffs mesh with thunderous drumbeats and snarling vocals. It’s a sound that listeners will be instantly comfortable with. A purist’s doom record if you will. It recalls smoke-filled rooms, the trio silhouetted through the fog. It’s a 70’s throwback, neither for better nor worse. Bloodline reinforces this. The opening riff is drawn out, a building block for the rest of the track to be constructed on.

Black Void is a grander sounding beast. From the distortion-heavy opening to the expansive guitar work, there is more of a psychedelic influence on show. The distortion warbles throughout and Marco Nieddu’s vocals show more variation. Not just drawling his way through the track but rising and falling with it. When it all but stops at the halfway point, Francesco Pintore drops in a simple bassline that brings forth the heaviest section of the song.

The album is so clearly designed for a vinyl or tape release. The organ at the end of Black Void closes out the first half, while Inferno picks things up again with some serious riffing. Then, throughout Priestess Of Death and Seven Priests, not a lot changes. It’s all good stuff. The riffs hit exactly right, the drums and bass are heavy, and the vocals have that incantation effect. Slow and drawn out. The album paces by quickly, despite all but one pushing past the five-minute mark. But much of it melds together. Jump in at any point and you will find some high-quality doom, but dive into another track at random and you might be hard-pressed to distinguish the two.

The closer In Requiem offers up some choice chanting and varies the pacing a little, which ends From The Graveyard on a high. It’s a standout, alongside Black Void, in building a real atmosphere around this band which suits the dark subject matter. It would have been interesting to hear an album that offered more of this variation because 1782 have much more to offer than adulation.

Two albums in, 1782 have built a solid reputation on dark lyricism and quality doom but by staying so safe within such a crowded genre, it makes you want to hear them let loose. While From The Graveyard is technically excellent, it’s the weirder moments on the record that will keep you on the edge of your seat for the next release.

Rating: 7/10

From The Graveyard is out now via Heavy Psyche Sounds.

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