Pilgrim – II: Void Worship

Right I have a Doom metal barrage coming your way folks so hang on to your hats as the pace is slowed down, up first is PILGRIM with their second album “II: Void Worship”. PILGRIM are a Doom revivalist duo that hail from Rhode Island and are ‘The Wizard‘ on vocals, guitars and bard and ‘Krolg, Slayer of Man‘ on drums (‘The Wizard‘ played bass on this release as original bassist ‘Count Elric The Soothsayer‘ departed prior to the studio session). PILGRIM play doom metal straight and simple, they aren’t breaking no boundaries and they don’t try to be fancy, technical and grandiose. What they do is set each tale up with a big riff and tell the fable while the music buries the listener under its weighty meaty doom dirge sound.

On this album PILGRIM attacks the listener with a doom sound that is as heavy as if “Andre The Giant” has decided to use you as a chair, however to keep the listener on their toes and interested they have added a few stoner fuzz riffs, psychedelic sound and classic rock. Don’t worry though Doom fans as the main and dominant influence is a Doom dirge. Songs on “II: Void Worship” seem to vary between two styles, you have the long, huge, thunderous Doom that buries you in its weight and sheer force (songs like ‘Master’s Chamber‘ and ‘Away From Here‘) while the other style is a more ballsy and retro style Doom sound (sounds like ‘The Paladin‘).

A plus side to PILGRIM is vocalist The Wizard as he adds to the tales he is weaving and enthrals the listener with his fables, he doesn’t rely on the usual Doom repertoire. The production on this album is also very good and adds to the overall sound and makes everything flow effortlessly when PILGRIM go and mix things up. For the first of my Doom albums this wasn’t as bad as I was expecting and PILGRIM will take you on a bards tale and this album will be a great addition to Doom enthusiasts. However if Doom isn’t your favourite genre then this album is still worth a listen, but I feel like something is just missing for PILGRIM to be classed as Kings of Doom.