Venture deep into the desert of the Southwest and you'll find Black Hell, a doom metal quartet featuring ex-members of Wellington and Unruh who have just released their second album, How the Rest was Lost. Black Hell show show a bit of a split personality on their sophomore effort. On one half, they play fast, groovy stoner-influenced doom metal with crushing and galloping riffs to create a ridiculously heavy sound, and on the other half, they play a slower, more tranquil version of doom metal using some atmospheric and drone elements. Did I also mention the fact that the album is only five tracks long with the last two clocking at over ten minutes, The Arizona quartet's album is enjoyable at first but it ends up being a little too much to handle despite being only five tracks long.
The first three tracks are all relatively short (or at least they are compared to the last two songs), and more straightforward. These tracks place a lot of emphasis on heavy riffs and are all relatively fast. The fastest one being "Lycanthropy" with it having somewhat of a old-school heavy metal influence rather than the usual doom metal that is found on the album. "Storms of Jupiter" is very interesting with the Gregorian style chants used in it, and the opener, "Lunar Procession" is a head-banging stoner metal jam. The last two tracks, are a lot different as they go for a more "epic" style of doom metal with a lot of spacey and drone elements used. Black Hell hits the jackpot on the thirteen minute instrumental, "Planet Maker." This track uses a lot more drone and slow doom elements to create a spacey atmosphere that is almost perfect for the track. "Celestial Conquest" closes the album and it begins with the faster riffs that were used earlier in the album but things shift gears around the three/four minute mark and they drift back into slower, doom metal territory again. They also dabble with psychedelic elements in this track as well with the vocal and sound effects. "Celestial Conquest" then ends with a wall of heaviness and feedback as the album comes to a close.
Which side of Black Hell is more enjoyable depends on the listener. If you like your metal fast and heavy then you'll love the first half, but if you enjoy the slower, heavy but atmospheric side to metal then you'll probably love the last ten plus minute tracks that end the album. The one thing that kind of bothers me about their faster songs is that they are all really similar to The Sword, most notably the vocals. Vocalist/guitarist, Frank Davenport's vocal delivery is nearly identical to The Sword's J.D. Cronise and the guitar melodies bare a resemblance to The Sword's Age of Winters album, as well. The main thing that separates them is that Black Hell seem to have a lot more substance to them than The Sword. Their music is a lot deeper, has more layers and stretch out longer than most of the songs in The Sword's discography.
Black Hell have a bright future ahead of them and can find some separation in the doom metal crowd if they can expand on this album. How the Rest was Lost may only be five tracks long but they all pack a punch, but they don't exactly stay for awhile. Aside from "Planet Maker," the songs aren't really memorable and you could probably find something better on Black Sabbath's first six albums or anything in Kyuss' collection. That being said, How the Rest was Lost is an enjoyable album and will be fun while it lasts at least.
