Pet The Preacher: The Cave & The Sunlight

Danish stoner blues troupe set out their stall

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The name is truly appalling but Denmark’s Pet The Preacher look set to register a presence on the international stoner scene with their debut for Napalm Records – the follow-up to the well-received The Banjo, released independently and on vinyl only back in 2012 (now also available via Napalm).

The Cave & The Sunlight is a confident, authentic and above all professional-sounding sophomore statement, founded upon a strong blues-based bedrock and boasting a surprising quantity of catchy hooklines.

OK, it houses a handful of songs that are simply content to tread water, regurgitating all manner of predictable stoner clichés, but when this album is good – the Monster Magnet-esque Let Your Dragon Fly, the funereal yet incisive Remains, The Pig & The Haunted and a monolithic two-parter entitled Marching Earth – it’s very, very good indeed.

Towards the end two longer tracks, What Now and The Web (the latter only available on its digipack and vinyl editions), allow the three-piece to stretch out and prove their strengths. Here’s hoping that we get to see them onstage before too long.

Dave Ling

Dave Ling was a co-founder of Classic Rock magazine. His words have appeared in a variety of music publications, including RAW, Kerrang!, Metal Hammer, Prog, Rock Candy, Fireworks and Sounds. Dave’s life was shaped in 1974 through the purchase of a copy of Sweet’s album ‘Sweet Fanny Adams’, along with early gig experiences from Status Quo, Rush, Iron Maiden, AC/DC, Yes and Queen. As a lifelong season ticket holder of Crystal Palace FC, he is completely incapable of uttering the word ‘Br***ton’.