Review of Confessor - Sour Times EP

And from the “I don’t know what to say about it but I’m damn glad to have it”, SEE ALSO “Fixin’ to get ready for a bigass comeback” files: underground legends Confessor have released the very limited Sour Times EP as yet another appetite whetting preview of the band’s forthcoming full length. Sour Times follows last fall’s self released Blueprint Soul EP, which is now out of print. According to the band’s new label, Season of Mist, Sour Times is mainly geared towards radio and press, but there will also be about 100 copies available to fans. The EP contains two of the three tracks from Blueprint Soul (the title track is absent), along with a radio edit of “Sour Times” and a remastered and remixed version of the demo of “Condemned”, the title track from the band’s classic full length. There is also some multimedia content, including photos and a video of a performance of “The Last Judgment”.

Blueprint Soul got a thorough, positive, and dead on review from MetalReview’s Drew Ailes, and since this is basically the same material, I won’t completely rehash his review. The short version is that Confessor made a name for themselves in the late 80’s playing challenging, complex, doom-tinged thrash. They only managed one full length release, and after 12 years, during which time guitarist Ivan Colon passed away, the band has reformed and is poised to release a full length album, Unraveled, later this year. Mach II Confessor is more accessible than its predecessor, but remains of similar quality. Essentially a doom band these days, the thrashy tempos and soaring vocals have been replaced with slow to mid-paced, solemn doom and suitably lower vocals. “Sour Times” and “Hibernation” are gloriously emotive, pulsing with a primal rawness. “Hibernation” is the more complex of the two tracks, but is still scaled back in comparison to Condemned. The updated version of the “Condemned” demo will no doubt be of interest to fans, and the song has greatly benefited from Dick Hodgin’s cleanup work. If nothing else, Sour Times serves as another reminder that Confessor seem more than capable of pulling off the full length comeback effort at which so many bands fail. If you didn’t pick up Blueprint Soul last year, you missed your chance, as it’s no longer in print. You have another opportunity now, but with only 100 copies available, you’d better move quickly. But the real point of this exercise is to ready yourself for Unraveled, which will give the band enough room to run out of steam or reestablish themselves as a major figure in the underground. I’m betting on the latter.

Drew Ailes' review of Blueprint Soul: www.metalreview.com/viewreview.aspx?ID=1319

Release Details

Confessor

Sour Times EP

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