This re-issue of Pale Divine’s debut album will bewitch many music fans for different reasons: At first, those who know about Pale Divine will have a wonderful bonus with two live tracks -“Amplified” and “Pale Divine”- recorded at Phantasmagoria, Wheaton MD 23.04.1999. Secondly, also here we have the Pentagram cover “20 Buck Spin” featuring Bobby Liebling himself on vocals and 10th track “Dark Night” with his lyrics. Not bad? Yes, it’ll be interesting for fans of Penance, Judas Priest, Trouble Saint Vitus and Pentagram. And thirdly and the most importantly, this three-piece band professes doom as their guiding star, and within the gloomy shine of it they explore the matter and the inner space of style in such unexpected directions and with such thrilling twists towards forbidden lands of 70-th Black Sabbath-ish tunes and even lightly streams of Pink Floyd’s influences, that it looks like they paint it with the freezing colors, the golden shades and the sharp expression of Bosch.

And let Darin McCloskey (drums) and Jim Corl (bass) forgive me, but the highlight of this release is definitely the guitar work of guitarist/vocalist Greg Diener. This guitar gives rise to the ardour of the doomed lands and a feeling of the declining of life with uncontrollably wah-wah leads a la Hammett’s Loads solo work and riffs reminding the energetics of “Ain’t My Bitch” in “Amplified”; the filigree guitar steps in “Star Child” or the modal sounding journeys a la Michael Schenker in “Devil’s Mark”. And you are open minded enough to let it in, “Thunder Perfect Mind“ will grow into your world to change it extremely dramatically. Ten out of ten. One needn’t read or write about it, but should listen. …time is creeping there from where there’s no return: you are doomed, by one chord you are crucified forever…