Reverend Bizarre
III: So Long Suckers

They had already announced it at the end of 2006: "So long suckers" would be the last album of Reverend Bizarre, the third record, adding to a long series of EPs, demos, and splits. It was known, therefore, that this platter would somehow leave a mark, bidding farewell to the fans in an indelible way: "So long suckers" succeeds in this, and proclaims itself as one of the most overflowing and magnificent doom albums in history. The reason can be understood from the running time: a double CD that collectively exceeds two hours, with tracks that surpass 20 minutes with almost disarming ease.

Approaching this album is at least a complicated task: for those not used to the soundscapes, the sonic leviathans evoked by the Reverend, I strongly advise against attempting to listen and to start with something more "digestible." "So long suckers" is indeed a dolmen so oppressive that it ends up feeling too "constructed," in the sense that during listening, there is a sense that the band wanted to emphasize its length to create something so enormous that it goes beyond even the goals that the members had set for themselves: and thus, some parts become stretched out too long, with the compactness affected even more, already undermined by a killer running time. That said, which I consider the greatest flaw of the CD, Reverend Bizarre has crafted yet another dark doom metal narrative of their brief career.

Stylistically, what the Reverend achieved in this slab is closely tied to the previous two works, if not for a naturally greater slowness and a writing that is exacerbated (and exasperating) that dilates the times. Yet the solutions remain quite convincing, as in the initial "They used dark forces - Teutonic witch", an entire disc: in it, doom riffs evolve that can crush bones, alternated with stoner surges as piercing as they are necessary to temper the overall tone. Immense and explosive for slowness and suffocation is also the following "Sorrow," which only in the second part accelerates, only to fade again on more and more suffocated notes.

The second CD is more characterized by the static nature of the compositions: the instrumental "Kundalini arisen" is negligible, but "Caesar forever" stands out for its monolithic epic grandeur, followed closely by another black novel titled "Anywhere out of this world": a long saga of heaviness that opens with an unusual and paradisiacal atmosphere for the always bellicose Reverend Bizarre. An intro that finds its points of contact with the psychedelic delights of the American Yob.

At the end of a troubled journey, nevertheless marked by the irony that never abandoned the Reverend, "So long suckers" leaves a gloomy feeling of nothingness, as if the listener cannot grasp the grandeur of the work. The impression is that Reverend Bizarre deliberately went beyond, to leave something, to be remembered at least by the very small circle of devotees who have always followed them. However, despite the large amount of material, "So long suckers" does not reach the quality of the two preceding CDs, and the reason lies precisely in its exorbitant duration.

Disc One
1. "They Used Dark Forces - Teutonic Witch" (29:05)
2. "Sorrow" (25:21)
3. "Funeral Summer" (11:41)

Disc Two
1. "One Last Time" (15:38)
2. "Kundalini Arisen" (4:25)
3. "Caesar Forever" (15:43)
4. "Anywhere Out Of This World" (25:33)
5. "Untitled" (2:35)