Band:	Dopelord
Album:	Songs For Satan
Style:	Stoner metal
Release date:	October 2023

01. Intro
02. Night Of The Witch
03. The Chosen One
04. One Billion Skulls
05. Evil Spell
06. Worms
07. Return To The Night Of The Witch

This is chopper 666, reporting live from the fiery pits of Hell. Satan is headbanging. I repeat: Satan is headbanging.

Dopelord are one of those cases in which you only have to read the band's name to immediately know their genre of choice. That's right: stoner doom metal—a genre that some listeners might consider as played-to-death. Indeed, I have reviewed plenty of unimpressive, run-of-the-mill stoner releases this year like Acid King, 1782, and Slomatics. Yet, I still find it rewarding to return now and then to this arguably oldest metal subgenre. Every once in a while, I come across a band that still find ways to make the Black Sabbath/Electric Wizard formula sound interesting (see Watchman, Daevar, and Karavan, for instance). Polish band Dopelord's fifth album Songs For Satan falls into this upper end of the stoner spectrum. It's not extraordinary, it's not mind-blowing, and it's probably not the best stoner record of the year. But, it still makes for quite an enjoyable listen. So, if you're interested in some good old-school doom fun, I recommend that you keep reading.

As the title of the album implies, Songs For Satan contains blasphemous songs, including lyrics of "spitting in the face of God" or a beckoning to "come and set your God on fire". The light-hearted, Ozzy-style singing full of reverb, combined with the lyrics of frolicking in Satanic cults, reminds me of Green Lung's Woodland Rites. But, while Green Lung focus primarily on catchy melodies, Dopelord go for mid-tempo, lumbering riffs, drenching the soundscape in a pure, fuzzy groove. Just listen to those crushingly heavy opening riffs of "Night Of The Witch" or "One Billion Skulls". Now that's how a proper stoner doom guitar tone must sound. Near the end of each song, the rhythm guitar work is accentuated by very enjoyable guitar solos, whose wild and meandering nature are somewhat reminiscent of Tony Iommi's solos on Black Sabbath's Mob Rules. Perhaps the song that best exemplifies the band's groovy style is "The Chosen One", providing a healthy amount of headbang-inducing riffs, sweet guitar solos, and enjoyable singing for Satan.

Most of the vocal work is provided by clean singing. However, there is a notable exception on "Worms", which features surprisingly harsh and raspy blackened vocals and concludes with some crazed Slayer-esque guitar whines. Still, since the vocal performance doesn't vary so often across the tracklist, the soft singing style can become slightly tiresome after a while. Thus, the intense guitar playing is definitely the highlight of this album (which is, admittedly, how it should be in such a riff-driven subgenre).

But, there are also slower, contemplative moments on the album, like the beautifully mournful guitar solos on the heavy yet quite melancholic love song ("Evil Spell") told from the POV of a desperate wizard. Furthermore, Songs For Satan is bookended by short, calm instrumentals. On the one hand, the 42-second intro features the lonely ambience of a forest, only interrupted by the eerie calls of an owl and a crow. On the other hand, the final track presents some tranquil synth-work that repeats the main melody of "Night Of The Witch".

In conclusion, Dopelord have checked all the right boxes for a very enjoyable stoner record. With a perfectly massive guitar tone, engaging guitar solos, and entertaining lyrics of the occult, Songs For Satan is filled with songs for any lover of the metal riff.