A duo from hailing from the wide away worlds of Portugal and New York City, HOURS OF WORSHIP have been putting out the odd release here and there over their history. Their most recent, released in August of this year, "The Cold That You Left" seems to have had some fairly rave review thus far (with an individual even commenting that it was 'as if SISTERS OF MERCY and TYPE O NEGATIVE had a baby'). With these as a starting base, I must admit that I am looking rather forward to getting stuck in. The artwork is simple and plays to the cold mentioned in the title, a strong start and the music hasn't even begun.

With a synth heavy introduction and low despondent vocals, one can see the Gothic influences and likeness to Peter Steele and TYPE O NEGATIVE almost instantly. "Your Lonely Death My Crown" is crushing in its hopelessness, the atmosphere that the music creates is enticing, as though a large heavy blanket has been thrown over you and you cannot escape it. This styling continues through "Fear In Bloom", as the dense wall of music envelops you as a listener, and sucks you deep into its depths.

As the record continues to rumble through, trudging through the loaded and desperately weighted music, I find myself faced with an unbreakable calm, as HOURS OF WORSHIP offer me a completely different style of cathartic reaction to that I am use to. I find this is at its most powerful in "A Wretch And A Liar". I find it hard to explain musically, it is slow, but that hasn't detracted any of the intensity that I would expect, in fact it has developed an edge of its own that I just cant quite put my finger on. It reminds me of a lot of the music I saw at a Gothic weekend festival last year. The only real gripe I have had with any of the music is that I feel there were sections that were crying out for some harsh vocals and screams, but again that is just my personal opinion.

Now this isn't Metal in its truest form, in that there aren't the archetypical heavy distorted guitars, high tempo energy. But this is certainly some high-quality Gothic, Alternative Tech music that is just superb. It has the power to really strike you deep inside and indeed I found myself reflecting on some events that have happened recently on a personal level. Nothing has had that effect on me before!

Overall, this is a superb release. Now it won't be to everyone's taste, the slow pace of the music and the general styling wont appeal to some. But that is the beauty of music. I have been going through a bit of a Deathcore / Death / Blackened Thrash phase at the minute, and I found the peace and serenity that HOURS OF WORSHIP offered me as a listener an absolute blissful change of pace. And as for live performances I can just see a superb live show, in an auditorium with lowered lights and misty effects. Be sure to give this fantastic young group and album a check out. For fans of AUGER, TYPE O NEGATIVE, WOODS OF YPRES and PALLBEARER