Album Reviews

Vodun was born in West Africa and then eventually became better known as voodoo in places like Haiti and Louisiana. The band Vodun however is from the UK and doesn’t prick in things with needles, but uses metal-tinged riffs and pulsating tribal rhythms instead. This afro-psych trio is led by Oya (who in everyday life goes by the name of Chantal Brown), whose soulful vocals are every bit as powerful as the riffs and who has been described by Mojo as ‘Aretha fronting Royal Blood’. That might be pushing it a bit far, but listening to “Possession”, you get what they are trying to say.

There’s plenty to be said in favor of “Possession” with banging tracks like “Loas Kingdom”, the thrashy title track and the more epic “Minos Army”. But at the same time, I can’t help but feel it all starts to sound alike after a while and especially during the second half of the album, I found my attention waning. Especially closing track “Kanpay Rejete” which drones on for about six minutes, was a real struggle to get through.

Vodun definitely has potential, but there’s room for improvement.