Elder

Elder

The New Bedford, Mass., trio Elder joins forces with legions of longhairs who are hell-bent on turning Black Sabbath's music into a bona fide musical genre. Elder's eponymous 2009 EP blasts molten walls of proto-metal, punctuated by guitarist Nick DiSalvo’s grizzled vocal growl. “White Walls” sets a doomy tone, with DiSalvo blasting crusty riffs at vision-blurring decibels over the well-oiled rhythm section of bassist Jack Donovan and drummer Matt Couto. But two-thirds of the way into the first song, something magic happens: the band members morph into proggy wizards with engaging arrangements and sublime keyboard textures, sounding like they have early Yes vinyl bookending their record collections. DiSalvo is hardly shy on the wah-wah pedal. In between unleashing deep, rumbling fuzztones and allocated bursts of raw Orange amplifier distortion, he dips his solos in bubbling cauldrons of acid rock. Check out his lysergic leads melting all over “Hexe.” “Riddle of Steel Pt. 1” and “Riddle of Steel Pt. 2” build a stoner-rock epic on par with Sleep’s Jerusalem. 

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