Saint Vitus - Saint Vitus (2019)^{Release ID: 7835}

Saint Vitus are back, reunited with original vocalist Scott Reagers and with a new bassist, Pat Bruders, four-string-wielder with Down. Personally, I prefer Wino's voice to Reagers' but that doesn't mean that Scott is a poor singer, on the contrary, his vocals still suit Saint Vitus just fine. I love Dave Chandler's guitar sound and it kicks right in on opener, typical St.V doomfest Remains and all seems fine with the world. There's a nice variety to the nine tracks on offer, old-school doom like the aforementioned Remains, Wormhole and Last Breath, a quite, gentle track with Reagers singing about some kind of torturous hell, which then leads into a couple of quicker, ass-kicking heavy metal tracks in Bloodshed and 12 Years In The Tomb, the bluesy Hour Glass, creepy-sounding City Park and the hardcore punk of closing track, Useless (yes, that's right, I said hardcore punk!) A common factor to a number of the tracks is that several feature a psychotic-sounding lead break and overall the band feel more aggressive than usual, but this is a solid album and a sigh of relief can be breathed all round by those who give a damn about doom metal and one of it's stalwarts.