With Orchid’s second studio album, the Bay Area doom-metal group dials down the Black Sabbath worship that dominated its preceding recordings. The Mouths of Madness finds the San Francisco quartet coming more into its own sonance and style while retaining the classic early-'70s hard-rock trappings synonymous with Ozzy and company. Right from the opening title track, singer Theo Mindell’s voice takes on a higher register as he sings and howls complex melodies previously uncharted. “Marching Dogs of War” follows, with fuzz-coated guitar riffs more informed by Pentagram’s Vincent McAllister than Tony Iommi. But anyone still craving Orchid's bellbottomed attack on the Sabbath sound will find it in the seven-minute and 25-second epic “Silent One,” which grooves forebodingly with shadowy lyrics and knowing nods to 1973’s Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. Check out Mark Baker’s versatile guitar work here; he seamlessly segues from towering Orange amplifier growls and hairy leads to more progressive parts that take cues from early Deep Purple. “Nomad” recalls Pink Floyd’s heavy soundtrack to the 1969 film More.