Review (and guest review by Matt Meehan) of Misery Wizard by Pilgrim

1. Astaroth

2. Misery Wizard

3. Quest

4. Masters of the Sky

5. Adventurer

6. Foraken Man

“From the hallowed halls of ancient tombs to the shimmering slopes of frozen mountain peaks, an archaic dirge resonates faintly and eternally— the lingering of a sound once so huge that it could be heard across oceans in distant lands. It was said that long ago, three men harvested the power of sonic amplification through arcane wizardry and dark bargainings with powerful demons, and that they used this power to create a band with powerful, heavy music unlike any that had ever been heard before.”

Pilgrim formed in early 2010, in Rhode Island, and was created to be a true doom metal band. With The Wizard heading the band with guitars and vocals, Count Elric the Soothsayer on bass, and Krolg, the Slayer of Man, they have developed a unique fantasy style of doom. Misery Wizard is the band’s first full length album of many more to come.

This album is one of my favourite doom albums, Pilgrim did a good job with it. The first track Astaroth, brings the feel of a very fantasy driven doom metal band and you can expect this the whole way through the album. The vocals are unique and I’ve not heard many doom metal bands with this style. The guitars are very sludgy and bassy and the faster riffs are catchy although they are far and few in between. The songs are a little on the long side, no complaining here, wouldn’t even mind if they were longer. I was going to name my favourite songs, but that was just naming off the whole album.

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Guest review by Matt Meehan

Starting off from the first track Pilgrim takes you on a Doom styled epic adventure, with fantasy influenced track titles such as Quest and the title track Misery Wizard.  Masters of the sky blew my mind making Pilgrim a new favourite of mine. Most of the tracks are a little on the lengthy side ranging from four minutes to twelve minutes in length. Misery Wizard being the band’s first full-length studio album is very impressive I totally recommend this album to any doom fans out there.