When Blood Ceremony released their self-titled debut in 2008, there wasn’t a so-called trend of bands playing ’70s styled metal with occult themes. In fact, since that first release, there has not only been a resurgence of this type of music, there has also been a resurgence in these type of bands fronted by siren-like women, with some of it being very good and others not so good. When their first record came out, it seemed like something interesting and different, and being one of the first of this kind, has helped the band stay ahead of the pack.

By the time their second album, Living With the Ancients, came out, the trend was in full bloom, but the band continued to play to its strengths by writing doom-y and dark retro-metal, bolstered by flute and organ, and also by the very witchy presence of lead singer Alia O’Brien.

Their third album finds the band branching out in new directions. If anything, this new record has a more hard rock than metal sound. It’s still imbued with a dark sensuality, and features more flute and organ, but it also shows the band embracing their folk roots on a few songs. It also showcases the talents of guitarist Sean Kennedy, who contributes many epic solos to various tracks on this album.

Opener “Witchwood” contains all the hallmarks of their patented sound, complete with a flute solo by O’Brien, while “Goodbye Gemini” is a dark slice of catchy early ’70s hard rock. The first curveball comes in the form of “Lord Summerisle,” which is basically a folk song accompanied by an acoustic guitar. And then soon comes “Ballad Of The Weird Sisters,” which comes off like an old-traditional updated for the electric age. The title track brings the doom back and contains one of those aforementioned ripping solos from Kennedy. “Drawing Down The Moon” throws in an organ solo, that leads to a raunchy rock riff, some cowbell, and more guitar heroics. “The Magician” closes out the album by bringing back the character of evil magus Oliver Haddo, and ends it all on a dark note.

The band has shown that they have the ability to stay ahead of the occult rock pack by expanding upon their sound, while still playing to their core abilities. If anything, they can easily transcend this trend, and just exist as another excellent doom metal band.

(Metal Blade Records, 5737 Kanan Rd #143, Agoura Hills, CA 91301)