This North Carolina supergroup includes the guitarist from excellent retro doom outfit Demon Eye, along with the legendary Mike Dean of COC, so you know it’s gotta be good. Lighting Born’s self-titled debut starts off with a signature COC-style guitar chug, before settling into a less-than-mid-paced retro doom groove a la Demon Eye, with shades of Pentagram, on “Shifting Winds.” As you might expect, the band’s singer sounds similar to Jex Thoth or Blood Ceremony, which suits this style of music just fine.
“Renegade” picks up the pace in a similar style to Deep Purple, with a great 70’s groove leading to a soaring chorus that recalls Ruby the Hatchet. “Silence” comes grooving up slowly like mid-90’s COC – fans of the band’s peak period would probably dig this.
At 11 songs and nearly 52 minutes, they definitely don’t shortchange ya. “You Have Been Warned” has a vintage Pentagram vibe, complete with solid 70’s drumming, as the vocals soar to a new stratosphere. “Salvation” is more akin to early 70’s Black Sabbath, with its Iommi-influenced riff and driving backbeat.
The stop-start riff that opens “Magnetic” gets yer noggin noddin’ right away, while “Power Struggle” oozes the 70’s grooves of Mountain (on that note, the opening riff of “Oblivion” practically apes “Mississippi Queen”), or even Earthless in non-jam mode, before taking a Sleepy turn around the 2:30 mark. And the seven-minute, COC-meets-Witch Mountain doom-metal power ballad “Godless” ends the album on a high note. But despite all the familiarity, there is enough variety on this record that retro riffmongers shouldn’t get bored.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6dP8XJ1o0A
https://ripplemusic.bandcamp.com/album/lightning-born
(Ripple Music)
