Terra Firma

A prototypical doom/stoner metal band, if there ever was one, Sweden's Terra Firma are neither as slow and dirge-y as most pure doom groups, or as psychedelic and space rock infused as straight-up stoner groups. Led by Unleashed guitarist Freddie Eugene (formerly known as Fredrik Lindgren) and former Count Raven singer Lord Chritus, Terra Firma bring a confidence and experience to their eponymous debut that most bands can only dream of their first time out. Some would argue that experience is all they have, given this album's relative lack of innovations in the field; but hey, this is a specifically retro style of music, remember — how much innovation can there be, really? No, the best thing to do here, is to stop second-guessing and bang your head to the undeniably excellent grooves of "Good Stuff" and "Troll Formula" and the brain-busting riffery of "...And the 8th Seal was Hers" and "Spiral Guru," all of which are propelled by Chritus' Ozzy-derived warble. As for extremes, the ultra-morbid "Separate Graves" acts as the disc's "Planet Caravan," while the insistently pounding "Altered Beast" goes for the "Paranoid" award. But it's the orgiastic power chords of opening tour de force "Rainbow Ride" that arguably qualify it as the only across-the-board classic contained here — a real winner. [The Japanese edition features a bonus cover of Cream's "Sunshine of Your Love."]