EXCLUSIVE VIDEO PREMIERE: Yatra – “Sorcerer”


Emerging Doom Metal leaders Yatra will release their crushing new album Blood of the Night, tomorrow, January 31st 2020 via STB Records. The album is really amazing and already among the most talked about releases in the genre this year. You can watch their brand new video for “Sorcerer”, directed by Tom Hughes at Ritual Video, exclusively at Ghost Cult! Continue reading


Sorcerer – The Crowning Of The Fire King


Swedish doomsters Sorcerer has an interesting story. Formed in Stockholm in the late 80s, they’d already broken up by the time a compilation of their demos was released in 1995. And that was it. No more demos, no proper début albums. Cue twenty years of silence suddenly punctured by 2015’s In the Shadow of the Inverted Cross (Metal Blade); a massive record that was one of my favourite Doom records that year.Continue reading


Enter Fantasia – Johnny Hagel of SORCERER


sorcerer

Best known for being bassist in Tiamat during their meteoric rise of the mid-90s, Johnny Hagel has returned to his 80’s act Sorcerer, whose début album In The Shadow Of The Inverted Cross (Metal Blade) caused a ruffle with its classic Doom sound when it was released earlier in the year. With a high profile show looming in Stockholm, Johnny took time out to talk to Ghost Cult and give an overview on just what Sorcerer are (and aren’t). And they aren’t Tiamat…

934746_932015746843384_5049619474794112811_n

I started to get into Death/Extreme metal around 95-96, when it seemed like the rest of the world was busy getting out of it – lots of bands were broadening their influences and distancing themselves from the style, and Tiamat were very much part of that. These days the trend seemed to have reversed – with bands like Bloodbath being formed by ex-ex-Death Metal musicians, and Paradise Lost discovering their long-neglected roots – and you’ve gone even further, returning to both a style of music and a band from before your Death Metal days. Why do you think this is?

“I have no idea how other bands think when it comes to their music so I can only speak for myself and the bands I have been in. With Tiamat the big change came from the first album Sumerian Cry (CMFT) to the second Astral Sleep (Century Media). Back then Tiamat changed band members, so that could have something to do with it.”

“When I joined the band just before Clouds (also Century Media) the band just continued the change which felt natural for us. I mean, if people want bands that doesn’t change there is always AC/DC and Motörhead and they do it very good.”

“But most bands want to explore other influences and not try to repeat themselves too much. If no band would ever change their style there would not be any new styles. Even death metal came from someone who tried something new.”

Is it (as some unkind journalists have suggested) a kind of musical mid-life crisis, or is it just the next stage in “growing up”?

“I don’t think it is a mid-life crisis. Music is a form of art and I think what drives music forward is the will to test something new, or mix the old with something new at least. Then what is growing up? Of course you get older and get new influences, and that is good I think. And who am I to judge what kind of changes other bands do?”

“The most important thing is that the music is good, not that you stayed “true” to your style.”

 

sorcerer_photo02

 

“Retro” bands have traditionally received quite a mixed reception, with some critics seeing the careful recreation of an older style of music as an ultimately futile endeavour. Are you happy to regard Sorcerer as a nostalgic tribute to past glories, or do you see it as more than that?

“I don’t see Sorcerer as a nostalgic band, even if I can understand that people do. Sorcerer will never sound “modern” in the way some bands do but I also hope that we never will sound outdated.”

 

On a superficial level, the lyrical themes on the album seem much more traditionally Heavy Metal than some of what you’ve explored in the past with Tiamat. Was this a conscious decision to identify with the traditional trappings of the genre, or were they intended to function on a different level?

“Every band has its profile, both musical and lyrical. With Tiamat the lyrics were deeper compared to with Sorcerer, where the lyrics are more fictional. I don’t prefer either, I just want to have lyrics that fits the music.”

 

Now that Sorcerer are back after a significant absence, is this a one-off return to ideas left unexplored, or are there plans for the future?

“No, we want to record more albums. We have already started to write and hopefully it would not take another 20 years… To write a good album takes time, more than the average music fan thinks. I am into writing albums as I think Sorcerer is an album band and not a singles band. I personally love albums.”

 

SORCERER on Facebook

Read our review of In The Shadow Of The Inverted Cross

 

RICHIE HR


Sorcerer – In The Shadow Of The Inverted Cross


934746_932015746843384_5049619474794112811_n

Sub-genre labels are always more fluid than some people would have you believe, but alongside Industrial and Goth (whatever the hell they are), Doom is probably the most easily abused – depending on the context, it can mean anything from “catchy skater-rock with fuzzy guitars and big choruses” to “eleven hours of excruciating feedback and despair”. Revived for the first time since Johnny Hagel left them to join Tiamat in 1992, Sorcerer take Doom all the way back to its roots in Candlemass and Solitude Aeternus – huge, epic, fantasy-themed True Heavy Metal built on monumental riffs and soaring vocals.

Which is not to say that In The Shadow Of The Inverted Cross (Metal Blade) is just empty nostalgia or “retro” posturing. A strong production that combines “modern” clarity with just enough grime to keep it sounding interesting highlights the strengths of what is, at its core, a strong set of catchy, engaging Heavy Metal songs. As you’d expect, the principal ingredient here is The Riff – grandiose, pompous and majestic – but Anders Engberg’s chest-bursting vocals ensure that the choruses will be stuck in your mind for days afterwards. There’s a groove to those riffs, too, but not the rambling beardy swing of “stoner” Doom – this is defiantly Metal, and those grooves stamp and crush without the slightest sense of irony or restraint.

There’s a tendency amongst reviewers (especially those of us raised on the golden age of Nick Terry’s reign at Terrorizer) to feel that we have to apologise for praising an album that isn’t in some way “different” or “special” – that giving high marks to something which is simply an excellent collection of songs within a clearly defined Heavy Metal sub-genre requires a justification – but I’m not going to play that game this time. In The Shadow Of The Inverted Cross is a fantastic Doom-laden Heavy Metal album, and should be recommended unreservedly for anyone with a love for that style.

8.5/10

Sorcerer on Facebook

RICHIE HR


Sorcerer Streaming “The Gates Of Hell”


sorcerer in the shadow of the inverted cross

Swedish epic doom metallers Sorcerer is streaming “The Gates Of Hell,” off their new album In The Shadow Of The Inverted Cross, out March 24, 2015 via Metal Blade Records here.

Sorcerer was formed in Stockholm, Sweden in 1988 but disbanded after two demos in 1992. Both demos are considered true Doom Metal classics and have been released on CD in 1995. In 2010 the band came back together to play the Hammer of Doom Festival in Germany and a year later the Up The Hammers Festival in Athens, Greece. Both shows were received extremely well and the thoughts of putting together a new album started to take form. In the end it took over two years to write, arrange and record it but the result is nothing but pure, heavy epic doom metal. The process of putting all bits and pieces together and making it ready for mix and mastering was the work of drummer Robert Iversen, also a very fine recording engineer, who was acting as the spider in the recording web. The album was mastered by Jens Bogren (Opeth, Amon Amarth, Devin Townsend).

Track Listing:
1. The Dark Tower of the Sorcerer
2. Sumerian Script
3. Lake of the Lost Souls
4. Excorcise the Demon
5. In the Shadow of the Inverted Cross
6. Prayers for a King
7. The Gates of Hell
8. Pagans Dance

SORCERER is:
Anders Engberg – vocals
Kristian Niemann – guitars
Peter Hallgren – guitars
Johnny Hagel – bass
Robert Iversen – drums

Sorcerer on Facebook


Sorcerer Streaming “Sumerian Script”


sorcerer in the shadow of the inverted cross

Swedish epic doom metallers Sorcerer is streaming “Sumerian Script,” off their new album In The Shadow Of The Inverted Cross, out March 24, 2015 via Metal Blade Records, here.

Sorcerer was formed in Stockholm, Sweden in 1988 but disbanded after two demos in 1992. Both demos are considered true Doom Metal classics and have been released on CD in 1995. In 2010 the band came back together to play the Hammer of Doom festival in Germany and a year later the Up The Hammers festival in Athens, Greece. Both shows were received extremely well and the thoughts of putting together a new album started to take form. In the end it took over two years to write, arrange and record it but the result is nothing but pure, heavy epic doom metal. The process of putting all bits and pieces together and making it ready for mix and mastering was the work of drummer Robert Iversen, also a very fine recording engineer, who was acting as the spider in the recording web. The album was mastered by Jens Bogren (Opeth, Amon Amarth, Devin Townsend).

Track Listing:
1. The Dark Tower of the Sorcerer
2. Sumerian Script
3. Lake of the Lost Souls
4. Excorcise the Demon
5. In the Shadow of the Inverted Cross
6. Prayers for a King
7. The Gates of Hell
8. Pagans Dance

SORCERER is:
Anders Engberg – vocals
Kristian Niemann – guitars
Peter Hallgren – guitars
Johnny Hagel – bass
Robert Iversen – drums

Sorcerer on Facebook


Sorcerer Releasing In The Shadow Of The Inverted Cross On March 24


sorcerer in the shadow of the inverted cross

Swedish epic doom metallers Sorcerer will be releasing their Metal Blade debut In The Shadow Of The Inverted Cross on March 24, 2015.

SORCERER was formed in Stockholm, Sweden in 1988 but disbanded after two demos in 1992. Both demos are considered true Doom Metal classics and have been released on CD in 1995. In 2010 the band came back together to play the Hammer of Doom festival in Germany and a year later the Up The Hammers festival in Athens, Greece. Both shows were received extremely well and the thoughts of putting together a new album started to take form. In the end it took over two years to write, arrange and record it but the result is nothing but pure, heavy epic doom metal. The process of putting all bits and pieces together and making it ready for mix and mastering was the work of drummer Robert Iversen, also a very fine recording engineer, who was acting as the spider in the recording web. The album was mastered by Jens Bogren (Opeth, Amon Amarth, Devin Townsend).

Track Listing:
01. The Dark Tower of the Sorcerer
02. Sumerian Script
03. Lake of the Lost Souls
04. Excorcise the Demon
05. In the Shadow of the Inverted Cross
06. Prayers for a King
07. The Gates of Hell
08. Pagans Dance

SORCERER is:
Anders Engberg – vocals
Kristian Niemann – guitars
Peter Hallgren – guitars
Johnny Hagel – bass
Robert Iversen – drums

Sorcerer on Facebook