Possessor: The Ripper (2017)

After being thoroughly impressed by UK stoner doom metal band Possessor's 2019 release, Gravelands, I sought out a couple of their earlier releases.  This is their 2017 album, their third overall album.  At this point in time, the band was a duo with one member playing drums and the other doing everything else.  For their most recent album, they added a full-time bassist.

Possessor stands out a bit from other bands in the genre with their ability to mix in thrash metal influences with the rumbling, rollicking rhythms.  This is especially evident on tracks like "Conjure and Possess" and "Guillotine".  Otherwise, the songs rock hard with catchy riffs and hooks that make it easy to headbang along to.  The lyrics generally deal with horror themes and there is the occasional sample back that up.  The songs do tend to run together at times and it becomes somewhat difficult to tell which song is which.

This is a fun album to listen to.  I was not quite as impressed by it as I was by Gravelands, mostly due to the lack of a real standout track.  Gravelands has "Breathe Fire", which is just a great song and really grabs the listener's attention.  This one does not have that one killer track that brings me back for more.  It is still a very good album, just not quite exceptional.