ROCKY'S PRIDE & JOY
ROCKY'S PRIDE & JOY "All The Colours of Darkness"
By Dr. Abner Mality
Strange name for a band! And in the end, that name is the only thing ROCKY'S PRIDE & JOY have that is truly theirs. The rest of their sound is shamelessly lifted from ELECTRIC WIZARD, with some additional notes from UNCLE ACID & THE DEADBEATS.
I really enjoy the grimy, oozy doom of classic ELECTRIC WIZARD. And so at the most basic level, I also like this Australian 3-piece. But somewhere down the line, you can't just pull your entire sound from another band. Check out "Pure Evil" here and tell me that isn't "Funeralopolis" by the WIZARD with only the most minor tweeks. All the tracks here with the exception of "Lucifer's Lullabye" pulsate like prime early WIZARD, even down to the vocals of Brenton Wilson. Those vocals also have the syrupy sound of UNCLE ACID and cuts like "Tunnel Vision" and "Your Hell" have a kind of languorous, drifting doom like the UNCLE. And then of course we have all the expected occult tropes from late 60's/early 70's pop Satanism, which seems de rigeur for this kind of music.
I enjoy the sound of ROCKY'S PRIDE & JOY but the mimicry is just too blatant for me to endorse this fully. Classic doom fans that aren't real choosy will enjoy it the most.