Harbour Of Souls – Doomsayer (EP)
Album Review By Rainer Kerber
Our small western neighbor Netherlands has already brought forth a variety of great rock and metal bands. Just think of Golden Earring, Within Temptation, Vandenberg, Epica, Shocking Blue, Peter Pan Speedrock and so on. My latest discovery is now Harbor Of Souls from the province of Zeeland in the southwest of the country. The band was founded in 2012. So far, two EPs have been released. In 2015, “Mountain Of Fire” was released. And in April of this year followed “Doomsayer”. Although I got the promo info quite late, but not too late. Let’s listen to the latest output of the Dutch.
The opening song “The Iron Never Lies” starts with riffs that hit the 12th. And then I hear the singer, Martin de Jong. He sounds like the little brother of Bruce Dickinson. And the sound also spreads Maiden Vibes, albeit less proggressively than the big role models. The Dutch get to the point quickly. Musically, too, Harbor of Souls has something on it. What a great guitar solo. The title song “Doomsayer” lives up to its name. Quieter, sometimes a little more doomy, with nice bass lines. “Queen On Her Throne” is a grooving song thanks to the thumping bass playing. With “Ministry Of Power” memories of Black Sabbath come on, deeper tuned guitars and hard riffs characterize this song. At the end, Harbor of Souls will once again deliver strong-riffing Heavy Metal with “Victory”.
Five songs in twenty-four minutes. Harbor of Souls are very purposeful, without excessive gimmicks. Hard Rock rarely sounds so fresh in the present. Too bad that this is just an EP, you might say. From this straight 70s / 80s sound one would like to hear much more.
Harbour of Souls – Doomsayer: https://youtu.be/R_4tbc3iuBk
Lineup:
Martin de Jong – Vocals
Daniël Suykerbuyk – Guitar
Bram Pelgrim – Lead Guitar
Robbert van Hoften – Bass
Richard van Leeuwen – Drums
Label: Headbangers Records/Big Bad Wolf Records
Out: April 5th, 2019
Playing time: 24:06
Track list:
- The Iron Never Lies
- Doomsayer
- Queen On Her Throne
- Ministry Of Power
- Victory
Rating : 8/10
MHF Magazine/Rainer Kerber
