Worship Metal Album of the Week – Dopelord – Sign of the Devil

Founded in Lublin in late 2010, this Polish stoner quartet have steadily honed their craft through a haze of groove and psychedelia and via a relentless onslaught of smoking, rehearsing and touring, resulting in Dopelord‘s fourth album, the heathenistic Sign of the Devil!

This follow-up to 2017’s incredibly well received Children of the Haze offers more of the same – traditional stoner doom, in case you were unsure – but there’s an evident evolution in their songwriting which distinctly marks Sign of the Devil as Dopelord’s finest outing to date.

In particular, the deliciously diabolical “Hail Satan” riffs up an almighty storm and is propelled by high energy, vicious vocals and a spacey, psychedelic finish which marks it out as a truly great track. Basically, it’s as if Hawkwind put aside the drugs and picked up a ouija board instead…..space-rock by way of Satan’s filthy, body-strewn basement for want of a better analogy.

The colossally sticky, fuzzy riffs keep on coming as Dopelord rigidly adhere to stoner rock / doom’s fundamentals while also seamlessly branching out and incorporating a myriad of doom-led influences. Highlights are plenty but at nearly 10 minus in duration, it’s the outstandingly titled “Doom Bastards” that fulfils the role of Sign of the Devil‘s focal point. A track which fully grasps the importance of dynamics and traverses psychedelia, doom, space-rock and 70’s hard rock to deliver a tour de force of crushing metal, Dopelord have potentially reached their zenith with this outstanding song. 

This is the sound of doom done right. Never dull and built on a torrent of ear-pleasingly suffocating riffs which crush all in their path, Sign of the Devil evokes just the right touch of despair and desperation. Satan would be pleased. 8/10

DOPELORD’s fuzz-laden fourth album Sign Of The Devil is out NOW via Green Plague Records.