Metal Underground.com

Austin-based Destroyer of Light returns with another steaming platter of ghoulish doom metal: "Bizarre Tales: Vol. 2," which looks and sounds like a horror comic. Although the band plays doom, a style that often conveys lyrics of a personal nature, this recording is all fantasy. The album's cover art is set in a graveyard crawling with zombies, a witch burning on the stake, UFOs and a meteorite, each comprising one of the band's five weird tales.

The band created a comic-book style, story board video for "Forbidden Zombi Ritual." Besides possessing a "Tales From the Crypt" quality in the video, the song's lyrics fall somewhere between the movies "White Zombie" and "Serpent And the Rainbow." Musically, this track exemplifies the band's fluid movements. DOL tends to find a theme and then build or deconstruct it based on the flow of the song. Here, they start with a mid-paced rhythm in the vein of Primordial and strip it down to a bass solo, which calls attention to Steve Colca's caveman vocals. During the next bridge, Colca harmonizes his voice with the melody of the guitar.

"Lost Time" and "Obliterated By Cosmic Fire" show the band stepping away from tales of supernatural terror into science fiction territory. Both tracks reveal strong atmosphere created through vocal and guitar effects. Hollow guitar tones, phazer, a riff that seems to fly on the back of an Iron Butterfly and a guitar melody that instills a sense of longing on "Lost Time" demonstrates the band's diversity of style and motion. "Obliterated By Cosmic Fire" features an upbeat, epic rhythm hinging on a stoner-doom type of rhythm, an apt direction for just about any song about space.

Pun-weaved "Battlefield Girth" is a heavy jam song complete with a marching segment and more psychedelic noises thrown into the mix. The finger-tapped parts are reminiscent of Mastodon and the guitar solos are also noteworthy on this track. On "Year of the Witch," DOL satiates the doom metal album requirement for at least one song pertaining to witches. This track also satisfies any hankering for diabolic doom metal. Echoing vocals and the down-trodden pace are two reasons to check out this track.

Destroyer of Light is now two for two in creating captivating albums. With "Tales of the Bizarre: Vol 2," DOL has created a fluid, trippy, catchy album that horror movie and metal fans alike should enjoy. I say heavy metal fans because the group's songs are the perfect length and don't repeat like some doom bands, which keeps the songs moving while keeping away the ho-hums.