Band:	Sorcerer
Album:	Lamenting Of The Innocent
Style:	Epic doom metal
Release date:	May 29, 2020
A review by:	nikarg

01. Persecution (Intro)
02. The Hammer Of Witches
03. Lamenting Of The Innocent
04. Institoris
05. Where Spirits Die
06. Deliverance [feat. Johan Langqvist]
07. Age Of The Damned
08. Condemned
09. Dance With The Devil
10. Path To Perdition

The second coming of Sorcerer has seen them embrace a cleaner and more melodic epic doom sound, with the band largely renouncing the dark and raw output of their early days. The harsh vocals that are sporadically heard on Lamenting Of The Innocent do not change that fact, and this album is more on the polished and tame side.

Sorcerer continue to hit the sweet spot between Candlemass and Black Sabbath of the Tony Martin era. You can hear "A Cry From The Crypt" on the main riff of the excellent "The Hammer Of Witches" and the 'Sinneeeers!' scream on "Age Of The Damned" immediately brings to mind "Eternal Idol". Taking ideas from other songs and bands is not unheard of; as long as you use these ideas and evolve them by adding your own resourcefulness and meaning, it can be a thing that helps music's progress. As Nick Cave recently said: "We musicians all stand on the shoulders of each other, our pirate pockets rattling with booty, our heads exploding with repurposed ideas". And Sorcerer already did that on their previous two full-length albums with success.

Lamenting Of The Innocent, however, falls a bit short in two departments where The Crowning Of The Fire King triumphed: riffs and hooks. When they go for short and to-the-point heavy doom, like on "Institoris", they hit the bull's eye but Sorcerer's latest is focusing too much on a ballad-esque type of doom, with songs that at times feel overblown and lack sufficient bite. The recipe works beautifully on the title track, which has a truly exquisite chorus, and also on "Deliverance", which features the one and only Johan Längqvist as guest (and reminds me a little of "Planet Caravan"). However, the songs in general feel as though they were composed around memorable choruses - and every track has one of those - rather than memorable riffs.

I find that the guitar players are underused for no apparent reason. Although the soloing often impresses, particularly on the last two tracks, the riffs seem left behind. The focus is on the admittedly outstanding vocals and the songs are crafted in such a way as if their main purpose is to provide the least intrusive possible soundscape so that Engberg can shine; and he does shine bright alright. But, much like the case was in Leprous's album last year, just a voice alone, no matter how stellar or divine or otherworldly it may be, cannot keep a one-hour-long album captivating throughout its runtime.

Lamenting Of The Innocent is not a disaster of course; far from it. However, it neither finds Sorcerer returning to their root sound of three decades ago which I personally prefer, nor does it meet the very high expectations that arose due to The Crowning Of The Fire King being one of the best releases of the past decade.

"Where have the brave and the heroes gone
They left us in solitude
And we stand alone
Shattered by despair"