Grave Speaker emerged in 2023 as a new outlet for guitarist John Steele after the disbandment of his previous band High n' Heavy. Now handling everything himself, Steele retained the doom, stoner, and hard rock elements of his prior work but headed further into 70s psychedelic and garage rock territory, giving the project’s self-titled debut its own identity out of the gate. Two years later Grave Speaker has returned with its sophomore effort Rays of the Emerald Sun, and Steele has pushed further into the psychedelic and stoner elements while keeping the lumbering doom foundation. It does feel like there’s still more room for some of the new styles to be expanded upon down the road, but those that like plenty of fuzzy guitar and that warm, crunchier tone will be right at home with this material.
Initially Rays of the Emerald Sun treads a similar path as its predecessor, as opener “Chosen One” expands at a slow pace with warm, reverberating drums and plenty of low end from the riffs. There’s plenty of doom DNA to this song but the fuzziness of the guitars also tread garage/hard rock territory, bringing in more of that soaring quality. This is also true on the extended jam “End of Time” offers, as it spends much of its run letting the low and slow doom sound expand, but around the three-quarter mark there are some stoner/desert rock leaning melodies that bring in a bit more atmosphere. “Sword of Life” is where some more shake-ups happen though, as not only is this the shortest track on the album but it adopts some rhythms that have more of a 60s/70s rock feel to them. This is continued on “Bones and Steel” as well as “Tower”, as the former has the rhythmic backbone of early psychedelic and garage rock fused together with lumbering doom. The latter is the most intriguing song on the album, as it moves from the more stripped-down riff and drum approach and brings prominent organs and other psychedelic melodies into the mix. It’s the song that stuck out to me the most, and the way the 60s/70s and later doom elements came together gave Grave Speaker a bit more of a different sound than some of its peers. I wish these ideas had appeared a bit earlier and been given the opportunity to intertwine with the core grooves on some of the other track, as this would’ve made the earlier ones a bit more distinguishable.
The vocals on Rays of the Emerald Sun skew towards the higher end of the spectrum, as rather than some of the gruffer pitches that one thinks of with a lot of modern doom the tone here is a bit mellower. At points it reminds me of a cross between Bobby Liebling and Ty Segall, falling between the earlier doom/proto-doom sound and modern psychedelic/garage rock, which is a great combination. But the approach does shift over time, as “Sword of Life” and “Bones and Steel” adopt a more direct singing style that have some bluesy tones and push things in different directions. Rounding things out is “Tower”, which has a much louder and almost shouted pitch that gives me some hints of punk mixed in with the rock ‘n roll flair. These different vocal styles show that Grave Speaker has just as much variety in this area of its writing, and I’m interested to see what else Steele incorporates in the future.
On their sophomore outing Grave Speaker looks both forwards and backwards, incorporating some older psychedelia and 90s stoner/desert rock into the doom and hard rock foundation. It’s a short listen that spends much of its first half in a more stripped down format, and while I personally would’ve liked some more of the exploration that emerges on the later songs this material has still drawn me back. There’s something immediately appealing about the fusion of decades present on this album, and the warm tones from the drums and guitar work well alongside the lumbering doom foundation. Steele has plenty of space to further branch out by the time a third album comes along, and I’ll be interested to hear where things go from here. Rays of the Emerald Sun is available from Electric Valley Records.
-Review by Chris Dahlberg