Band:	Procession
Album:	Destroyers Of The Faith
Style:	Doom metal
Release date:	December 2010

01. Hyperion
02. Destroyers Of The Faith
03. The Road To The Gravegarden
04. Chants Of The Nameless
05. Tomb Of Doom
06. White Coffin

Originally released on vinyl in December of last year and finally seeing its release on disc at some point a month and change later, Procession's full-length debut, Destroyers Of The Faith is now, finally, out.

Cult Of Disease, the Chilean doomsters' last release was so awesome that Marcel and I were going to fight to the death for the privilege of reviewing it before some peacenik hippie on the staff suggested we join forces - which we did. Said staffer also bribed us with copious amounts of booze and possibly GHB (not to be confused with GBH) ? I guess they didn't want to have to scrub out the bloodstains from MetalStorm Towers.

So how will their anticipated debut stand up to that effort?

As swell as Cult Of Disease was, this one takes that basic framework and goes to 11 with it. Whereas their countrymen in Mar De Grises might go all out and progressive post-doom experimental with their approach, Procession are meat and potatoes. They are straight forward, straight to the point, and damned good at it.

It is customary in metal for an album to lead with the strongest track, the one that grabs the listener by the short curlies and forcefully demands their attention. Destroyers Of The Faith follows this approach. The opening salvo of the album is a 1-2 jab-uppercut punch combo of the short "Hyperion" which blends in to the epic length title track that knocks the listener senseless. The two words best to describe those tracks - powerful and confident.

The two are propelled forward by emotional, powerful and confident vocals, powerful and confident production that makes the components of the sonic assault sound bloody fantastic, and confident and powerful musicianship. On the primary riff of the title track the guitar, bass and drums work perfectly in conjunction? powerful, yet neither glacial nor warp speed. Instead they advance on the listener at a constant, purposeful gait. Like the Terminator. Procession cannot be stopped, cannot be reasoned with. They exist to doom you and there is fuck all you can do about it.

The rest of the album is really great material, if perhaps not quite up to the fury of the openers. Plaza's vocals are more forceful and forthright than on their last, and he is a riff machine. Road To The Gravegarden slows the tempo down to more typical traditional doom speed, a nice shift to the overall mood before it gets picked up again in subsequent tracks. However, whether lumbering or striding, Procession will stomp all over you.

The closer, "White Coffins," also fits the metal mold in the sense it ends the album on a powerful note that lets the listener know the end is nigh, yet leaves them, even after nearly an hour of doom, wanting even more.

Ultimately, if you are into traditional doom, or doom, or just metal in general, this one is definitely worth hunting down and giving a listen.