Marie's Sister's Garden

The second album from Voodooshock is a good example of a perfected form — the approach that bandleader Uwe Groebel has put together over the past ten years is one that comfortably slots in among many other albums and bands that draw not only on Black Sabbath but those who explored that band's impact in later years. Eschewing the more delicate side of that sound, as well as the more torturous approach of singing, for a calmly commanding and all-electric approach, Voodooshock's big asset is basically being a showcase for Groebel himself — no bad thing at all, since his more formally dramatic singing avoids both vocal burnout and the kind of theatrical nonsense that makes people enjoy a band like Dragonforce un-ironically. That said, Marie's Sister's Garden is mostly of a piece that is enjoyable on the whole more than for its individual songs; nearly everything flows together as one strongly and stately performance after another, and the fine production finds a good middle point between warmth and focused precision (Groebel's singing always stands out no matter how loud the music, which more often than not dominates the vocals).