by Eduardo RivadaviaPenance's third album, 1999's Proving Ground, was their first in five years and kicked off a very productive, far more stable new phase in the band's thus-far troubled career. It also marked the recording debut of new vocalist Brian Bailich (who'd already been singing with the band for almost two years), and his confident combination of melody and muscle brought a new versatility to help expand the scope of the band's mid-paced doom metal songwriting. The opening title track already hints at this, but it's with second song, Cloudless, that the Pittsburgh doomsters' really hit their stride, locking into a rolling, surging power riff that quickly tattoos itself into the senses, and rarely relinquished itself thereafter. As with any true doom band, Black Sabbath is the overpowering touchstone, but glimpses of British doom masters Cathedral and California titans Saint … Read more