The full title of this album is ‘The Cup of the Lord and the Wine of Demons’ and is the third album from this Danish band who state that they are influenced by Black Sabbath and Pink Floyd in equal measure and therefore refer to themselves as Pink Sabbath. Actually, what we have here is good old fashioned Seventies rock from a band who have been influenced by The Sweet, Pink Fairies, Black Widow (especially) and Uriah Heep with some Sabbath (but not much Floyd). Production wise it also sounds as if it is from that period as it just doesn’t have the clarity and power that one would expect from a modern band pushing guitars in the way that these guys are. It is almost as if someone has put a pillow over the speakers and have muffled a lot of what is going on.
But, I’m not sure that an improvement in sound would make much difference, as in many ways this is a workmanlike album that is okay, but is never really much more than that. There are enough good ideas and musicianship to move it well out of the ‘poor’ category, but nothing like enough to make it ‘essential’. I found that my interest was soon waning, but am also sure that if I saw them in concert I would enjoy it and would buy the CD, but I don’t think I would play it much after I got it home. But, if you can’t get enough of symphonic style progressive hard rock that sounds as if it came out 40 years ago then this might just be for you, but if you want something that is more vibrant and essential then look elsewhere.
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