Here Lies Man - Ritual Divination (Riding Easy)

A band with a sound that, according to the PR blurb, is as “…if Black Sabbath played Afrobeat…”? I’m bloody well intrigued…

I believe that this is Here Lies Man’s fourth album – and it’s fifteen tracks long so strap yourself in. Kicking off with In These Dreams, proceedings begin with a crunchy guitar riff which is most definitely Sabbath-esque. There’s a doomy feel but I’m immediately struck by the fact that it’s not especially Afrobeat? It’s perfectly acceptable but I must confess that I was looking forward to something a bit more left of field. Next up is I Told You (You Shall Die) and there are some sweet surging keys behind the intro. Then the keys seem to go a bit ‘medieval pipes’ behind the chunky riffage and bass – as a big fan of fifteenth century folk music, for me this wasn’t a bad thing. The bass is fat and I like that. It has a nice outro too, which is all brass and orchestral.

With Underland the tone of the keys is still fifteenth century (perhaps this is how the band interprets ‘Afrobeat?’). It’s a solid, albeit short, track with some catchy guitar and drums, and with What You See I’m very much enjoying the presence of the keys which give an ‘otherworldly’ dimension to these most satisfying tunes. The snappy riff of Can’t Kill It keeps up my enjoyment and I’m jigging about quite merrily. I do want a stronger Afrobeat influence though…

Run Away Children sees a different tone to the keys, which is probably a wise move. There’s some slinky high-hat too and I’m loving the drum patterns on this. Things get a touch groovier and more up-tempo with I Wander which seems to have a bit more of a whiff of the Afrobeat if I put my mind to it. Other juicy offerings include Night Comes, Come Inside, and Collector of Vanities, which, like the remainder of the album, are all good solid tunes. Overall, a sterling effort.

I very much got into this album but as per my initial observation – the Afrobeat influence really does need to be more profound, especially if you’re going to pimp your album out on that basis.