Black Book lodge

Steeple And Spire

Welcome to the church of noise.

Originally labelled as some sort of Danish stoner band – a Nordic

Kyuss or some such equivalent – Black Book Lodge have developed well beyond the bounds set by debut album Tûndra and follow‑up Entering Another Measure.

Early material might well have conjured up bleak, blizzard‑lashed mountains and icy wildernesses, doomed yet trippy, but Steeple And Spire is apparently where the thaw sets in, the sun shines and everyone cheers up a bit, according to guitarist/vocalist Ronny Jønsson. Which is all true, as long as feeling uplifted involves lashings of Badmotorfinger‑era Soundgarden.

The sonic resemblance really is uncanny at times, carried along in large part by Jønsson’s amazing ability to sound unerringly like Chris Cornell; flick between In Halves, Teething, The Tower Bell and especially first single Spoil The Child and it’s really hard not to do an aural double‑take. That voices croons hypnotically, fragile yet powerful, while the riffs crash and grind against the towering cliffs of an implacable rhythm section.

The result is by turns beautiful, violent and driven, the band’s progressive leanings given full sway to take the tunes wherever they may run. Altogether it’s a bit of a tour de force.