Leather Nun - Absence Of Light mp3 album

This isn't a bad album at all, and Leather Nun (or Leather Nun America) are a competent band, it's just that this album isn't really that great. I can nod my head along whilst it's on, but there's nothing about it that really encourages me to listen to it again. The best song on the album is 'Below Zero', which is catchy and has some fun riffs, but even then it's not really representative of the whole album, it's a highlight, and it could still do with trimming down by about a minute. The main thing is, I can hear most of these riffs in better songs. Specifically better Black Sabbath songs. Sure they've changed them round a bit, but a few times on the album I hear a riff start and think "this sounds like Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" (or whatever song it might sound like) only to find that the last few notes are different. There is a lot of similar riffs, and by the time the album had finished I wanted to go and listen to Masters of Reality, and when an album inspires you to go and listen to another album you knows there's a problem. I know it's traditional doom and Sabbath influence is mandatory but I noticed a lot of riff similarities in this one more than a lot of others. The songs are also too long. They either don't have enough ideas or the ideas they have are not strong enough to justify a seven minute track. The opening track starts off sounding cool, and would make a pretty decent four minute song, but the track ends up lasting nearly twice as long and by the time it's finished you really do feel like the song has overstayed it's welcome. A lot of these songs would be a lot better clipped by at least two minutes, the riffs just aren't strong enough to validate their length. And another minor complaint is that the vocalist isn't very strong and feels a bit like he's playing the background too much. He isn't bad at all, but the songs could probably do with a more powerful vocalist. Saying all of this, it's still a good album, but those problems keep the album at good level and never allow it to rise up to great. The music is still fun if a bit overlong, there's plenty of catchy riffs (they're not all Sabbath imitations, obviously) and the band don't really just fall into the stereotypical doom style, nothing actually really feels miserable or apocalyptic here, and it reminds me more of a gang of bikers drink driving down the highway after three days of drinking, smoking, fighting, gambling and watching a tired stripper dance with a snake at the Titty Twister. It has a cool, sleazy vibe to it and is a lot more rock and roll than Trinakrius and Saturnia Temple and other PsycheDOOMelic Records bands. Maybe I was being a little too harsh in the beginning, this is a cool album and is fun to rock out to, but if some manageable changes were made the band could go from competent to great and I feel it's my job as a reviewer to bring this stuff to the surface or else nothing changes. This is a worthwhile album if you're into doomy stoner rock/metal, but I must say there are better bands out there right now. Leather Nun display that they are certainly capable of writing enjoyable riffs and a few good hooks so maybe, hopefully, they'll step things up on the next album.