Band:	Son Of The Morning
Album:	Son Of The Morning
Style:	Doom metal
Release date:	August 2018

01. Introduction
02. The Rule of Three
03. The Midwife
04. The Wild Hunt
05. Release
06. Left Hand Path
07. House of our Enemy
08. Eyes Sewn Closed

Female fronted fuzzed out retro stoner doom - sheesh, at this point the niche genre should get its own category in the MSA's. If that came to pass, the self-titled offering by Iowa quartet Son Of The Morning would be a worthy addition.

Stumbled on to this one and gave it a shot almost entirely based upon the swell cover art. No joke. Caught my eye. (Bought by my eye?) Look at it. Fucking beautiful, foreboding and intriguing. Didn't take long for me to enjoy the sonic book as much as the cover.

Musically, as fuzzed-out retro stoner doom, Son Of The Morning is about what you'd expect as a whole. The fuzz makes a swell coating, Lady Helena's vocals sound great, both in more naked songs like "The Midwife" as well as the more potent sections. Maybe it's my swell, new expensive headphones, maybe it's the work of whomever twiddled knobs, but it sounds spectacular, particularly the bass, which helps drive everything along.

Stylistically, even while working within the basic framework of fuzzed-out retro stoner doom, they mix it up a little bit. The stripped down, snap-driven and swinging verses of "The Midwife", the slower paced fuzzed Debbie Doom Downer of "House of our Enemy" and the great midpaced but comparatively upbeat "Left Hand Path" keep things moving along and, well interesting.

Apparently the album is a mix of newer tracks as well as some that had been released on an EP last year, with the newer front loaded in the pecking order? maybe it was the cerveza or some sort of sonic flashback courtesy of hallucinogenics long past, but I almost stitched together my own mental story complete with like 60's/70s horror movie (think Vincent Price type work) of a midwife who gets caught up in a coven, choosing the left hand path, living in disguise, then ultimately paying for her decisions.

Given the revelation of the album's origin, my imagineered concept has been completely debunked, but I still managed to picture it in my cabeza on subsequent listens.

Nice work for their first full-length release, very interested in seeing what they do next.

Definitely worth checking out, so consider Joining Their Cavalcade on Bandcamp. Meanwhile I'm off, The Wild Hunt is on the chase.