I've been hearing this band's name quite a bit since 2006, from touring with bigger bands like Clutch, GWAR, Mastodon, Converge, etc... As usual, I figured it was just some trendy nu-doom crap and didn't bother checking them out. When I got this CD to review I figured "great, well let's get it over with." Thankfully, Priestess, from Montreal, proved my dumb ass wrong.

Prior to the Fire surprised the hell out of me in a good way. I don't really consider it a metal album, but there is definitely some heavy, solid, riff-work going on. I think they picked one of the best, and strongest songs on the album, "Lady Killer", to start it off. The chorus is just fucking catchy for a heavy rock band. The dual leads throughout the album can't help but remind one of Thin Lizzy, and again, genuine riffs that get stuck in the brain.

In my humble opinion, the vocals are what truly set this band apart from other current heavy rock, and I fucking hate this term, but "stoner rock." No screaming, no yelling. Just solid clean vocals, and well written lyrics. I mean for fuck's sake, "Murphy's Law" straight up sounds like an episode of Firefly. So fellow nerds will dig the shit out of his lyrics. I think lyrically the best song on the album is "Communicating Via-Eyes." It took me about two or three listens to figure out he's singing about a fucking werewolf. Yes, please. The asshole is also playing lead guitar while singing his balls off, so there ya go.

I could keep going, but you get the point. Great album. Breath of fresh air, blah blah. I have listened to this album about ten times since I skeptically put it in my CD player. If you're a fan of fist-pounding riffs, classic dual leads, spot-on singing, and songs about science fiction/fantasy-nerd-ism... fuck with this.