Search - Confessor :: Sour Times

Great band, but this EP is not so essential any more

Justin Gaines | Northern Virginia | 03/05/2010

(3 out of 5 stars)

"After a long absence North Carolina underground doom metal legends Confessor returned in 2005 with their first new recordings in nearly 15 years. To generate interest in the (then) upcoming full-length album Unraveled, Confessor released the EP Sour Times. Here's what it had to offer:



1. Sour Times - The first "single" from Unraveled is a very heavy, very doomy song. It's also very impressive. I hear a lot of Solitude Aeternus in the band's sound, which isn't a bad thing.

2. Hibernation - Another great doom metal song that shows a still vital Confessor. It's also available on the Unraveled album.

3. Condemned (demo) - This is an interesting addition. It's a remastered version of the demo version of the title track of their 1992 Condemned album.

4. Sour Times (radio edit) - I'm sorry, but radio edits are probably the most useless "bonus" tracks ever, especially when you consider the utter impossibility of a Confessor song being played on the radio. I'd much rather have seen a remastered version of their cover of Black Sabbath's "Hole In the Sky" from the Masters Of Misery: Black Sabbath Tribute album.



The EP also includes a live video of "Last Judgement" that is very cool to see. That's probably the main reason to check out Sour Times.



As with most EPs like this, Sour Times is much less essential now that Unraveled has been released. Still, for die-hard fans - and I haven't encountered any other kind of Confessor fan - Sour Times is well worth the low price tag for the "Condemned" demo and the live video."