Nightfly Few would argue the importance of Saint Vitus in the doom/traditional doom sphere and they certainly went out on a high with 1995’s Die Healing. Fast forward to 2012 and Lillie: F-65 was their first studio album for 17 years. Bassist Mark Adams and guitarist Dave Chandler remain from the line-up from Die Healing and in came new drummer Henry Vasquez to replace the sadly now deceased Armando Acosta. It also saw the return of Vocalist Scott “Wino” Weinrich (The Obscessed, Wino) replacing Scott Reagers once again.

The sound on Lillie not surprisingly is dominated by Chandler’s fuzzed guitar sound and while he’s never been the most busy player his playing seems even more minimal here as well as upping the fuzz quotient, from Die Healing at least. This to a certain extent seems to rob the riffs of some of their power unfortunately. Weinrich’s vocals whilst doing the job lack the range and expressiveness of Reagers. He was more convincing in The Obsessed to my ears. At only 34 minutes it’s pretty short and whilst there’s a few good songs time is wasted considering the short running time by album closer Withdrawal which is basically three minutes of feedback. Vertigo is better but is really another filler being a short guitar only instrumental. Of the five remaining songs nothing jumps out as great which is disappointing. Pick of the bunch is probably opener Let Them Fall and Blessed Nights. The faster and busier Blessed Nights has the edge but Let Them Fall whilst being very basic has a riff that gets under the skin. The Bleeding Ground for the most part is a bit too basic but scores points for Chandler’s searing guitar solo on the more up tempo ending.

Not the comeback album I would have hoped for from Saint Vitus then after the excellent Die Healing but I know it has its fans. However at the time of writing Saint Vitus have a new album due imminently with Reagers back on vocals. Whilst it’s too early to say, based on the two tracks currently available this is sounding far more like the return I’d have hoped for. Time will soon tell.

Warthur Reunion albums are a dangerous sport, creating as they do the risk of tarnishing a legacy by adding half-hearted, tired-out cash-ins to their discography. Saint Vitus, though, are doing it right here: Lillie: F-65 is as natural a followup to V (their last work with Wino on lead vocals) as Die Healing was a successor to their early albums with Scott Reagers. Vitus aren't big on surprises and you get exactly what you were hoping to here - fuzzed-out, doped-up traditional doom metal with deep riffs and depressive vocals. Taking up their throne alongside the other top players in doom metal as though they'd only stepped out briefly for a bonghit, Saint Vitus are well and truly back.

Time Signature Let them fall...

Genre: doom metal

The lords of doom are back! And it sounds like they were never gone. In fact, it sounds like it's still 1969, and with fuzzy guitars and heavy blues-influences Saint Vitus pretty much take us back to doom metal in its infancy.

With minimalistic and crushingly heavy guitar riffs as the main ingredient, Saint Vitus draws on a bass-rich and fuzz-ladden quite dirty guitar sound, which suits the overall tortured and desolate feel of this album perfectly (and which is very reminiscent of the sound on "Born Too Late", too). And, needless to say, Scott Weinrech's characteristic vocals, the heavy drum beats and the driving bass contribute equally importantly to the retention of the typical Saint Vitus sound no this album.

A track like "Let Them Fall" is simple and heavy and compellingly expressive, while the massive "The Bleeding Ground" has the same sort of darkly psychedelic groove associated with Black Sabbath, although the tempo is increased towards the end and a chaotic and at times noisy guitar solo kicks in. "Vertigo" is a melodic instrumental and allows one to rest the ears after the brilliant noise of "The Bleeding Ground". Drawing on a heavy (but actually quite uptempo) and minimalistic riff, "Blessed Night" has an almost hypnotic quality to it, and that big fat bass sound is just brilliant. "The Waste of Time" is a heavy and doom-laden track evolving around a set of classic doom metal-style riffs. This also applies to "Dependence", which is the magnum opus of the album (which does have a slightly more epic feel to it than anything else on the album), while "Withdrawal" is a sort of soundscape-thing evolving around experimentation with guitar noises.

Fans of doom metal should definitely check out this release. In true Saint Vitus style, it is retro beyond belief and goes all the way back to doom metal in its earliest form. It is slow, heavy, minimalistic, darkly psychedelic, tortured, dirty and bleak. It is true doom metal in every sense. If you love your Pentagram and your Black Sabbath, then you will also love Saint Vitus' "Lillie: F-65".