biography

Portland’s Holy Grove has gone from strength to strength over the past few years. The quartet trade in the brand of trad-stoner metal that’s all the rage and outshines 99 percent of its peers. "Sabbath fronted by vintage-Ann Wilson" is easy shorthand, but there is much more happening in Holy Grove’s heady grooves. Vocalist Andrea Vidal is a dynamo: an authoritative, black-clad presence alternately gracious and ferocious, evoking Coven’s Jinx Dawson as much as she does Ronnie James Dio or Ian Gillian. Bolstered by Trent Jacobs, a tasteful guitarist from the Iommi academy, powerhouse drummer Eben Travis, and bassist Gregg Emley ― of low-slung Rickenbacker and nearly waist-length locks ― providing the bright yang to the singer's yin. There is elemental energy at play here. The band's moniker is an apt metaphor for its earthy magic.