Bedemon has never really been a "real" band - it took a decade until the first-ever set of all-new material of this project is getting released... here the reasons why: Around 1970, guitarist/composer/journalist/author Randy Palmer churned out the very first doom songs written on North American soil, inspired by the gory films and the most menacing of music at the time. With the help of his band mates, PENTAGRAM co-founders Geof O’Keefe (drums) and Bobby Liebling (vocals) as well as schoolmate Mike Matthews (bass), they recorded numerous songs that illegally floated around on sub-standard bootlegs for decades ("cleaned-up" and officially released in 2004 as "Child Of Darkness" CD). Around 2002, Randy decided to record a "proper" album, but shortly after completing the recording of the basic rhythm tracks he died in a tragic car accident. O’Keefe, Matthews and new vocalist Craig Junghandel worked with recording engineer Shawn Hafley over the next decade to finish the project, also as a tribute to Randy - which is now released as Symphony of Shadows.
This album provides you with a time-travel experience, as the info puts it, "9 bone-crushingly heavy slices of pure 70s-flavored doom metal". Indeed, it´s all in the spirit of early Black Sabbath, psychedelic Doom with a hypnotic, mystical touch (e.g. Hopeless, Eternally Unhuman), crowned by extensive soli and a clean haunting voice (rather channelling Ian Gillan than Ozzy, though). "Son Of Darkness" reminds me a bit of Manilla Road, and there is this Hawkwind-meets-Iron Butterfly touch in other songs - quite a thrilling record, the only problem I have is that I never really fell for that kind of music so much... But if you are a fan of those bands mentioned or the 70s spirit as such, it´s surely a 10/10 for you.
PS: Symphony of Shadows will be released as both a single CD and deluxe 2-LP vinyl set, chock-full of photos, lyrics, liner notes and intimate stories from the surviving members.
Klaudia Weber
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