Warthur
Question: just how slow can traditional doom metal get and still be recognisably traditional, Sabbath-inspired doom metal of the Candlemass/Electric Wizard variety as opposed to drone metal? The answer, as it turns out, is pretty damn slow indeed, as Reverend Bizarre prove on their debut album. But the Reverend should not be mistaken for advocates of slowness for the sake of slowness - their compositions do occasionally kick into gear, and it's a great deal of fun when they do so. The long, languid, glacier-like slow sections in their compositions are integral to evoking the atmosphere of lethargic melancholy they require, and they summon it masterfully.
Buyers may wish to note that most recent CD issues of In the Rectory include as a bonus the EP Return to the Rectory - in fact, for a long while this was the only way to get a copy of Return to the Rectory, until it finally got a standalone vinyl release in 2011. But I'll review that one on its own page when I come to it. As for the main event itself, it's an absolute classic of traditional doom metal, standing as proof that masters such as Candlemass, Solitude Aeturnus, Electric Wizard and good old Black Sabbath themselves hadn't yet explored all the possibilities of the subgenre.