I'm not entirely sure about the current status of Salt Lake City's sludgy Romantic Doomers SubRosa. They are back together for at least a couple of North American live appearances. Are there plans beyond that or will singer Rebecca Vernon go back to her own project The Keening and the rest of the band continue as The Otolith? Will maybe all these things continue existing beside each other?
What I know is that Profoud Lore Records took this moment of attention as an opportunity to reissue the band's three studio albums released by them. And thankfully SubRosa also got I hate Records on board for a re-release of their label debut, which so far had been a blind spot on my musical map.
What I know is that Profoud Lore Records took this moment of attention as an opportunity to reissue the band's three studio albums released by them. And thankfully SubRosa also got I hate Records on board for a re-release of their label debut, which so far had been a blind spot on my musical map.
SUBROSA - Strega (red vinyl LP) (2008/2026)
"Strega" comes on red vinyl with a lyric sheet and really nothing to complain about concerning the physical copy. This is nice. If you had been missing out on this one as a fan - this edition gives you no reason to keep it that way!
Musically the album is quite different than what the band would do on later releases. I already knew that despite playing super heavy, often bleak, yet beautiful Doom Metal with two violins SubRosa has never actually been inspired by My Dying Bride, which would be such an obvious assumption.
Listening to "Strega" now however really drives home who was the real main inspiration behind Vernon and Sarah Pendleton founding this group. And it's not only PJ Harvey, but also Polly Jean Harvey. Most of the eleven songs are still short, there's only one violin yet, the bass sound isn't as crushing as it would become on the following works. The dry guitar riffs in the centre, Rebecca's vocals, the stripped-down, yet effective production... Everything points heavily into this direction. And a piece like "Black Joan" maybe even drives the similarity almost a little too far.
But yes, all in all that's pretty damn cool. This is nowhere close to the magnitude of "More Constant Than The Gods" or "For This We Fought The Battle Of Ages". It's not a perfect album - but it doesn't need to be.
"Strega" shows SubRosa at an intriguing point of their evolution, from which they could have easily developed into a much more chart-compatible Indie Rock direction - and probably still have become an exceptionally great band. But the seed for what they would actually become is also there, especially in tunes like the title track or the instrumental epilogue "Cradles".
What else to say? I'm just really happy to own this now.
Musically the album is quite different than what the band would do on later releases. I already knew that despite playing super heavy, often bleak, yet beautiful Doom Metal with two violins SubRosa has never actually been inspired by My Dying Bride, which would be such an obvious assumption.
Listening to "Strega" now however really drives home who was the real main inspiration behind Vernon and Sarah Pendleton founding this group. And it's not only PJ Harvey, but also Polly Jean Harvey. Most of the eleven songs are still short, there's only one violin yet, the bass sound isn't as crushing as it would become on the following works. The dry guitar riffs in the centre, Rebecca's vocals, the stripped-down, yet effective production... Everything points heavily into this direction. And a piece like "Black Joan" maybe even drives the similarity almost a little too far.
But yes, all in all that's pretty damn cool. This is nowhere close to the magnitude of "More Constant Than The Gods" or "For This We Fought The Battle Of Ages". It's not a perfect album - but it doesn't need to be.
"Strega" shows SubRosa at an intriguing point of their evolution, from which they could have easily developed into a much more chart-compatible Indie Rock direction - and probably still have become an exceptionally great band. But the seed for what they would actually become is also there, especially in tunes like the title track or the instrumental epilogue "Cradles".
What else to say? I'm just really happy to own this now.
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