Saint Vitus- Saint Vitus

(This review is dedicated to Armando Acosta, who died on 25.12.2010. RIP Amando)

This is classical doom metal album and arguably it is the first real Doom Metal song. Of course, Black Sabbath had their Doom Metal songs, but they hadn’t truly “created” a scene. Like all traditional Doom Metal, Saint Vitus are influenced by Black Sabbath and the most influential Hardcore Punk band Blag Flag. Saint Vitus were also signed at SST records, which was Greg Ginn’s own label. An interesting fact is that Saint Vitus influenced Black Flag on My War album.

An album could be divided on two parts: first part is consisted of two tracks: Saint Vitus and White Magic/ Black Magic. The second part has three tracks: Zombie Hunger, The Psychopath and Burial at Sea. So why was I writing about Saint Vitus influences and why have I divided a début album on two pieces? All songs on those two parts have their own influence: the influence on the first part is mainly Black Flag and songs in second part are mainly influenced by Black Sabbath.

Let’s finally start with the main part of the review. First song is self- titled track Saint Vitus. It has punkish riff -Black Flagish riff. The tempo is mid paced and lyrics are about the saint called Vitus and they have a warning purpose. Reagers ( vocalist) is singing really passionately here.

Next song: White Magic/ Black magic gave an inspiration for the name of this blogJ. It is really one of my favourites. It is again mid paced tempo, but in the end there is a doomy riff and slow tempo. The songs ends with Reagers’s shout You Optimistic Fool and it is really a memorable end of the song. Saint Vitus's lyrics were always great and usually actual. This is no excepcion ( they are probably about someone who wants to seize power and none can stop him at the end).

Next three songs are slow-paced. Slow riffs create a depressed atmosphere and solos in them are emotional and in vain of Iommi and Hendrix. All of them are not so memorable as first two, but that is typical for Doom Genre...

Highlights are certainly the Scott Reagers performance, lyrics and Dave Chandler’s solos. This album is not perfect. There are some mistakes with repetition and in my option the next album is even better...