Grave Bathers - Death Hand // Feathered Serpent (Vinyl/Record)

As if to justify their already-badass name, North Philly psych-doom quintet Grave Bathers have acquired an actual funeral parlour as an HQ in which to house their vast cityscape of Orange stacks. And from the moment Feathered Serpent kicks in it’s obvious that the funeral parlour is open for business.

Epic riffs, piercing Robert Plant vocals, tales of outlaws and bloodshed, all above some truly gorgeous bass work. Feathered Serpent is a slick yet psychedelic affair, switching from a stoned opening motif to a furious blues jam and back again with all the slithering grace of, well, a feathered serpent.

Death Hand opens with an unsettling, near-discordant drone, before we are dropped fizzing and fuzzing into yet another ball-busting riff. Again, the band cuts loose into a psychedelic jam, this time beneath relentless flanger sweeps and whinnying, whammying lead attacks that build to a frantic climax before crash landing in a pit of groaning reverb.