Entrance

Otherwise known as multi-instrumentalist Guy Blakeslee, this third Entrance album is the follow-up to 2004’s Fat Possum release, Wandering Stranger, which established him as an emerging figure in progressive blues. Opening track "Grim Reaper Blues” (dedicated to Charley Patton) shows Blakeslee delving deeper into the psychedelic Delta sludge that Led Zeppelin first discovered on "When The Levee Breaks.” A few more songs in and it is clear that Blakeslee has worked hard to conjure his own spells through massive amounts of reverb and some far Eastern mysticism thrown in for good measure. While such oppressive vibes can quickly be overwhelming for the unprepared, it’s nothing that a few rounds of shock treatment can’t rectify. In truth, while Blakeslee still seems musically stuck around 1970, his take on the blues comes off as surprisingly refreshing, given how stale that genre has become in recent years with the deaths of its last remaining true practitioners. At least with Prayer Of Death, Blakeslee has accepted the inevitability of his own demise and as with all bluesmen, that can only enhance his music.