I once heard about the divine right of kings while listening to a history lecture about it. I have to admit it is quite fascinating; kings actually had some sort of right to rule in the sight of god. Well religion has always stroke me as peculiar, especially in Medieval times where people were more ignorant than actually thinking about what they are following. I won't start furnishing this review with my doctrine but I leaving you with a small reminder of it, if you understood what I meant earlier in the last few sentences, rather proper. When it comes to the band GROAN, from the finest countries to present Metal or Rock, England, as those' genres starting points and greatest historical moments, there is still "The Divine Right Of Kings", and it was also chosen to be the title for their second album, released via Soulseller Records. This group, which came as completely new to me, has been playing a 70s oriented form of Stoner Metal, meaning a lot of BLACK SABBATH and PENTAGRAM influences alongside with energetic inflamers such as BLUE CHEER, RAINBOW and DEEP PURPLE. Their preaching is to solve your troubles and problems with Rock N' Roll, boy I agree with them and also with their great music attached to those fine proclamations.

Over the years I had a few runnings with Stoner Metal bands that didn't quite appeal to my taste.  A few of those led to me to a conclusion that I didn't really know what to think about their stuff, whether it bored me or not, excited me or made me tear the sheets in my bedroom. Gladly it took GROAN to show me the fine side of this stony genre, though when it comes to "The Divine Right Of Kings" I couldn't actually sense that haziness. Well they do sound like BLACK SABBATH but roughly energized and with a sound pattern that resembles the old 70s spike but with a modern end to it. As far as their material goes, there have been crossings between something that might be a bit sluggish, yet not in the Doom Metal sort of way, and fast Hard Rock / Rock N' Roll punches. I liked the main riffing, with a groovy and gloomy crust, a bit fuzzy but heavy and filled with a bass overhead, as it mesmerized me with that vintage tuning and reminded of wild moments of the past. The beats of tempos played out according to the era they presented, GROAN have that modern spark in their sound, but as far as their direction goes, they kept it strict thus keeping the paces and rhythms consequently. I had a few deliberations about the vocals. After liking the vocal line, following a few songs it started to itch a bit as it sounded rather monotonic, especially with the mid high singing that remained rather steady. On the other hand, I came to notice how much this type of singing fitted the music so I calmed myself down a bit without being too critical over it.

GROAN enslaved me to their will first with "Magic Man". After preaching in favour of Rock as a means to end life's troubles and have a complete trust as if this genre was the saviour from evil just like the religious dudes believe in their gods, they almost had me believing that. This one swarmed with exquisite 70s magnets that didn't let me go. However, "Gods of Fire" did that better than the former, it was ultra catchy with fine lead guitar outburst and tremendous main riffing. The vocals were equally catchy and easy to connect to. The final epic of "The Divine Right of Kings" set a different tone, with less humor and more into the hardcore gloom of the genres of Metal and Rock, GROAN presented something a bit more constructive and mature. It might not be the best track around but it proved this band right. "How Black Was Our Sabbath?", made me laugh a little bit due to the word game these guy played here but without a doubt the heaviest track on this one, it actually sounded like the missing link of "Master Of Reality" but with more gets and a whole lot of glory. After my recommendations go and urgently grab this one when available.