Entrance - Prayer of Death Album Review

Entrance
Prayer of Death
Album Review

Why just do spiritual blues when you can wrap in a more-than-slightly-manic cosmic lunacy too? Entrance is the project of Guy Blakeslee, a self-taught singer and musician from Los Angeles, and Prayer of Death is his fourth album. Anyone familiar with the last disc, Wandering Stranger will have an idea what to expect - age-old blues chants channelled through a spooky (Devendra Banhart-like) vocal and guitar that got the feel right at the expense of the right notes - but here, there are other instruments and all original compositions. You may well wonder whether he's all there mentally, but there's no doubting the spooky fascination on offer. The closest parallel is to the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, where wild leaps of mania are combined with guitar wail and a vague connection to the blues. A strange, strangely-compelling disc.

Rating 7/10

Mike Rea