Album Review: Mage – Hymns for the Afterlife (Self Released)

Celebrating fifteen years of existence, Mage, the groovy, stoner, doom metal band, are back with their fifth studio album, ‘Hymns for the Afterlife’.

Fifteen magical years, and showing no signs of slowing down, Mage return with an album that embodies their groove-rich sound. Featuring seven tight tracks that run the entire gambit of the band’s genre-defying ways, riffs and all. Oh, the riffs.

I’ve listened to a fair bit of Mage over the years, but it has been far too long since I wrote about them. So, excuse me if I gush a bit here because Mage kick ass and this album put a big, silly smile on my face.

Smooth as f**k, Soil for the Worm sets a high bar with its extravagant riff showcase, yet it’s the vocals that do it for me. The power, it’s downright magical, and just to cap everything off is thick, gurn-inducing percussion.

Taking things in an old-school rock-infused direction, albeit with riffy twists, Devil Be Damned is a fun, excitable body-shaker. At least until around the halfway point, when the tone changes and the groove slows down in deliciously salacious fashion. The final part, an injection of pace, also gives us some theatrical soloing.

Talk about your crowd pleasers, and then there is Witch’s Hollow and its sexy bass hums. A track that has a dark mischievousness running through it like a thick vein, resulting in something impressively catchy and with just a hint of Sabbath-worship too.

Then there is the pulsating Summer, a track that feels bright and brash, until the chorus hits and Mage pour some ice-cold water down the back of the neck. It’s not enough to cool things off completely, but it does shift things in a very cool, doomier, way. Before along comes Odin’s Eye, a dramatic effort that takes a leisurely approach for a few minutes of its runtime, infusing something quite fantastical sounding with much moodiness and intensity, before heating the tempo up and going a bit wild for a flashy bit of old school heavy head banging.

It is the high point of the album, and while the final two tracks aren’t quite as compelling, both offer plenty of enjoyability. Vino Bambino, because it is as weird as it is fun, and The Hill, because it has hypnotic qualities. Where the guitars twist and turn with style, the drums pound away with potency and comfort, and the vocals deliver lyrics like a sermon, the kind that you can’t help but drink the kool-aid of.

A banger record, here’s to another fifteen glorious years of Mage.

Mage – Hymns for the Afterlife Track listing:

1. Soil for the Worm
2. Devil Be Damned
3. Witch’s Hollow
4. Summer
5. Odin’s Eye
6. Vino Bambino
7. The Hill

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