lista zespołów Doom Metal Opium Warlords Live at Colonia Dignidad

Opium Warlords is the addictive moniker of Cobra Records’ latest sensation. It’s not everyday you receive such a record that encompasses most of Doom Metal and beyond.

My dear man Skinless from Spirit Of Metal had put done the words “drone” in the review requests section. It was enough for me to enlist. I’ve always been a big fan of bands like Earth and similar and it was a nice breeze of fresh air if you also take into consideration the endless list of Black Metal one-man bands that want their basement reviewed.

When the CD came in by mail, I found myself already enamored with the long description and the band’s bio that seem to reek of narcotic vapor from every word. It oozed mysticism from every pore as well as a good dose of… humor? After sending wifey to bed, I turned on the player, headset on and prepared for what was next to come.

I was literally blown away. The very first notes of “Soon Be Here, Prince Of Sleep” just sucked my brains inside a vortex of paralysis. That feeling subsided throughout the very end of the record only to be washed away in four seconds of violent storm as if the hypnosis had ended badly.

For most music, you have no problems to find the right words. Similar to this and that band, sounds like this and that, etc. With Opium Warlords, I felt loss and deprivation. My words had vanished and only contemplation was left to be observed and thought through. It won't serve any purpose to try and find a solid fitting description because Live at Colonia Dignidad has far too many scopes and vistas to look at and doing a track-by-track review would only desecrate the essence of it.
I may only say that there are a few keywords here and there that will more or less accurately describe my feelings: oppression, oppression and oppression. Funeral AOR? Atmospheric Sludge? Classical Doom? Forget all the tags praised by mp3 addicts. None of them work for Opium Warlords, worse they could fit one song only to be contradicted by the next.

I strongly recommend shutting yourself from the outside world when listening to this intense hypnotic voyage or else the charm will be ruined. If someone or something would interrupt, I’d suggest you send them to hell for an hour and sixteen minutes because otherwise it’d be sacrilegious. Because yes, that record is almost like a religious experience.

If you’ve been reading some of my other reviews, you probably know by now that I’m not the kind of person to write ethereal and mysterious reviews like the one you’ve just been served with. You might even wonder what kind of drugs I’ve been on to achieve such results. The answer is none. Better still, the answer is Live at Colonia Dignidad. I wish I could be more earthbound and go into more details but I'd rather, for once, forget the materialistic world and dwell for some more time around this endorphin-inducing experience.

One thing for sure, that will be more like my proper self, ie straightforward and zero-bullshit tolerance, go buy the record. By any means.