### The Wounded Kings: Consolamentum

#### 25/03/14 || gk

The Wounded Kings formed in 2005 and released a couple of completely unremarkable albums. Then in 2011, sole surviving founder member Steve Mills put together a new line up and released “In the chapel of the black hand”. The album wasn’t without it’s flaws and dull moments but it was a step up. Now, 2014 and The Wounded Kings are back with their fourth album “Consolamentum”.

“Consolamentum” opens with the close to 14 minute behemoth “Gnosis”. The song is about as slow and heavy as you’d expect and The Wounded Kings sound pretty massive. As the song lurches along, it becomes apparent that the band is on to something here. The vocals, sung like a chant, are disquieting and lend an eerie presence to the song. Lost bride has a riff that you can feel in your bowels and builds a creepy atmosphere. Title track Consolamentum is the album’s centerpiece. At close to 10 minutes, the song has another massive riff at its heart and then builds into a truly awesome doom metal song in the second half where the vocals and the organ give the song character and identity. “The Silence” feels the most generic song here for the first 6 minutes or so but when the organ comes in around halfway through the song, it changes and turns into a sprawling doom soundscape. These mostly lengthy songs are broken up by some shorter instrumental pieces that act as little bridges between songs and it works quite well.

What makes “Consolamentum” stand out is the care taken to build each song and give it its own identity. Mills’ judicious use of the organ to build atmosphere works well and it never detracts from the massive riffs on display. Still, the star of the show for me is vocalist Sharie Neyland. There’s a ritualistic feel to the music on this album and her Janis Joplin by way of Diamanda Galas delivery is pretty perfect. There’s a fearlessness and slightly over the top quality to her singing that brings an edge to the band and her voice is used pretty much as another instrument to add atmosphere.

“Consolamentum” is a solid effort from The Wounded Kings. It’s not going to convert anybody but in what has already been a great year for doom metal they’ve done more than enough to stand out.

- Information
- Released: 2014
- Label: Candlelight
- Website: The Wounded Kings Facebook
- Band
- Sharie Neyland: vocals
- Steve Mills: guitars, hammond organ, keyboards
- Alex Kearney: guitars
- Al Eliadis: bass
- Mike Heath: drums

- Tracklist
- 01. Gnosis
- 02. Lost Bride
- 03. Elige Magistrum
- 04. Consolamentum
- 05. Space Conqueror
- 06. The Silence
- 07. Sacrifice