The Wandering Midget 'The Serpent Coven', 2008

The Wandering Midget play a style of Traditional Doom Stoner/70s Downer Rock and they play it very well. I was very impressed by their 'I am the Gate' 2007 demo and this full length debut just reinforces my opinion that this is a great band.

Some might say they sound more like Reverend Bizarre than the good Reverend ever did. But that's not a problem for me, for even if RB hadn't disbanded, I suspect we were never going to see the likes of 'Harbinger of Metal' (2003) and 'So Long Suckers' (2007) again. What we get with 'The Serpent Coven' is an album in that vein, to that quality. The Wandering Midget sound every bit as good as RB at their best, and that's a high hurdle. They've picked up the baton and are running with it.

The other point I'd make is that just as Sheavy are accused of being Black Sabbath copy cats and Kingdom Come likewise for Led Zeppelin, neither of them are, for despite the similarities they each have their own style, well same goes for The Wandering Midget. In fact a lot of their songs reminds me of Warning as well, especially with the vocals coming across as a blend of the singers from these two bands.

I've played and played this album and I don't think I'll ever tire of it. The riffs are to die for, not because they bludgeon you in to submission or are trance inducing in their mantra, but because they are like striking up a conversation with an old friend you've not seen for years and the conversation flows effortlessly as if you only met yesterday. This album contains some of the most beautiful melancholy songs I heard in a long while, and above all it has that X-factor, it flows, it's organic, it's believable, , it's alive, it's addictive.

This album is one of those all-time doom classics that joins the ranks of those aforementioned RB and Warning albums. I suspect like those albums it will never get the recognition it deserves. Still, no one said life was fair. Absolutely fabulous album.

10/10