Lord of Confusion – Evil Mystery
Release Date: 30th September 2022
Label: Gruesome Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Psychedelic Doom Metal.
FFO: Pentagram, Saint Vitus, Electric Wizard.
Review By: Andy Spoon
Gruesome Records is set to release a fresh psychedelic-doom album on September 30th with Lord of Confusion’s 2022 release, Evil Mystery, a 6-track LP featuring slow, blues-inspired chunky riffs, mountains of church organ, and haunting contralto/mezzo female vocals, that, when taken together, add a distinct sound to the genre that works pretty well and avoids some of the common doom metal pitfalls. From a standard listener’s viewpoint, there are three distinct things that make up the entire experience of Evil Mystery.
1) The Church Organ – It’s played over almost every song, making the heaviness a little bit more cartoonish, even eerie at times. One might think that having a Hammond organ sound would be just a little hack-kneed, but it really works for Lord of Confusion’s overall sound. It’s part of their signature. If anything, it comes to the front of the mix, often filling the musical space that one might expect to hear from the vocal section. It absolutely finds a way to work with the “southern” influenced guitar riffs that run up and down the blues scales. There are many moments in which the tracks feature organ leads as well as long whole notes in the background of the slow and broody guitars.
2) The Double Vocal layers – Lord of Confusion’s main vocalist on Evil Mystery is Carlota Sousa, whose contralto is chesty, droning, and fits well with the Hammond organ and fuzzy guitar tracks. The slow and churning speed of the tracks lend themselves well to her note-bending as the two layers are intertwined on the super-long tracks. She has moments where she bends in and out of tune. I was immediately starting to cringe, but I found that she performed the same in-and-out-of-tune technique in reprises of the same song part, so they were intentional. I find it funny how something that can sound bad, can end up being a highlight of your listening experience once it’s determined that it was intentional. However, I guess that’s what heavy metal always and still is.
There is a male vocalist who adds the heavy, growling and screaming vocals as his choice moments. However, I really wish that there was much more of the harsh vocals in each song to allow a “duet” of sorts. Sousa’s vocal style is dynamic and clean, but it absolutely could use a break in between moments on these 7 and 8 minute tracks.
3) The Chugging, Fuzzy Guitar Section – Almost sounding like it’s right out of a swampy bayou in the sticks somewhere in the American deep south, the guitars are gritty, chunky, bass-y, and have a solid amount of blues twang to start a nice slow headbang. I love how they form the entire rhythm section of the album. There’s just thick and mushy attack to the guitar lines, each track being entirely built around them, at least to me. As someone who particularly loves the low octave, fuzz distortion, and heaps of reverb, I think that this was the “best” highlight of Evil Mystery. Namely, the guitar solo on Hell, track 6 about halfway through was lights-out.
Overall, I think that the experience of the album was listenable, but not really ground-breaking. The guitar work is extremely-enjoyable and can help paint a vivid musical picture. The three distinct elements work well together, but it can become a little bit repetitive after 3-4 tracks. I think one of the main problems with doom metal is the pacing and proclivity to become repetitive. I think that the addition of the organ and the deep female vocals breaks that up into something much more generally-palatable. I’m not saying it’s something that I would blast every day, but there’s absolutely a place for Lord of Confusion in the psychedelic doom world, as these folks are really making a concerted effort to craft a dynamic and unique sound in their sphere. 
(3 / 5)
