Graced with a cover sporting two shadowy, hooded druid like figures turning away from view, you may be forgiven for expecting This Seed We Have Sown (Ripple) to be one of those occult rock and metal bands that followed the likes of Ghost (remember when it was almost the trendy thing to do?). In actual fact French rockers DoctoR DooM, although retro, actually take their cues from 60’s and 70’s blues rock, which has seemingly as-of-late had quite a resurgence.

Formed out of love of those early greats, on the face of it DoctoR DooM fit that typical vibe and sound, but scratch a little deeper and there is a substantial amount more going on. First aspects that come to mind are the bluesy guitar tones that bring to mind the likes of Thin Lizzy and the Southern rock bands that the likes of Blackberry Smoke and The Cadillac Three worship. Jean-Laurent Pasquet’s vocals sitting somewhere between Phil Lynott and Josh Homme, partly drawling with assured charisma.

The likes of ‘The Sun’ and ‘Truth In The Dark’ even evoke some Black Sabbath like riffs and melancholic yet danceable tone. There are even moments that point towards the 70’s Prog rock greats, with some unconventional song structuring, and most notably, the 7 minute ‘At War With Myself’ with its piercing use of keys.

There are near countless bands that have taken to a classic, retro sound of their idols and some of the timeless greats of rock and early metal, but DoctoR DooM have done so with still an eye on the present and beyond just hero-worship. Familiar sounding enough but with some shades of the unconventional, and most importantly, an arsenal of strong, memorable songs which should hold them as one of the better, traditional sounding bands of the modern era.

7.0/10

CHRIS TIPPELL