PATRIARCHS IN BLACK

An ongoing collaboration between New Jersey thrash legend Dan Lorenzo (HADES) and former TYPE O NEGATIVE drummer Johnny Kelly, PATRIARCHS IN BLACK have been one of the most reliable sources of flagrant SABBATH-ian riff worship over the last few years. Their first two albums were loose-limbed riots, as Lorenzo's seemingly endless supply of great riffs collided with guest vocalists including Karl Agell (THE SKULL/ex-CORROSION OF CONFORMITY) and Mark Sunshine (who recently replaced John Garcia in Cali stoner rock legends UNIDA).

On their last record, 2022's "My Veneration", PATRIARCHS IN BLACK pulled off the impressive coup of recruiting RUN DMC's Darryl "DMC" McDaniels for one of the most unexpected team-ups of recent times. Like everything else the duo have attempted so far, it worked brilliantly, while adding more color to an otherwise overpowering exercise in doomed-out riff evangelism. On the aptly named "Visioning", Lorenzo and Kelly take that evolution and run with it, albeit at a necessarily sluggish pace.

Ushered in by yearning, sonorous strings, "Visioning" revels in the slow burn. "What Do They Know? (For The Champions)" swaggers in on a riff that would make Tony Iommi's temples twitch, as Mark Sunshine wails like a possessed druid in a kaleidoscopic kaftan. Dropping down into a nastier gear, "Before I Go" is a blissed-out hymn to the abyss, with strong echoes of TROUBLE's psychedelic, Rick Rubin era, and the hulking, morbid charisma of SOUNDGARDEN circa "Badmotorfinger". Karl Agell's vocal is as classy as they come, and the whole six-minute snail's trail glistens with dark authority. Impressively, "Heart Of Spite" is even more languorously crushing, with singer Hob Traynor delivering a glowering, red-eyed recital, and at least two riffs that are CROWBAR-heavy.

As obvious as their allegiance to doom's raw essence can be, PATRIARCHS IN BLACK retain the right to deviate wildly from the expected. As with the aforementioned dalliance with a hip-hop legend, "Visioning" takes detours into ferocious rap-metal on "Welcome To Hell Again" and the stoner rap hybrid "A Few Good Men". Once again, it probably shouldn't work, but it does, as Lorenzo's ear for a killer riff extends far beyond the limited confines of stoner metal. Pleasingly, firebrand spitter Kelly Abe is the perfect conduit for the PATRIARCHS' stylistic sidestep and fits right in. Similarly, arcane blues standard "Whiskey On My Mind" is given the full, revitalizing treatment. The combination of Frankie Diaz's flawless vocals and Lorenzo's voodoo pentatonics is utterly convincing and slots neatly into place beside the balls-out rumble of "Empty Cup" (featuring EXHORDER's Kyle Thomas) and, most gloriously of all, hard rock hammer-blow "Curse My Name", which boasts another immaculate turn from bona fide metal legend Jason McMaster (WATCHTOWER / DANGEROUS TOYS / HOWLING SYCAMORE).

It ends with the gently lysergic stroll of the title track: another showcase for Mark Sunshine and another embarrassment of riff riches delivered with an insouciant authority and aimed squarely at those who know instinctively that without The Riff, we are nothing. That's the kind of vision that we can all get behind.