doom / stoner / grunge
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It's quite funny to see how ideas can change in mere matter of minutes. My opinion about this album, for instance, completely changed once the second track started playing and kept changing throughout the entire listening session. At first, I thought, "oh, a debut, sounds a bit like Black Sabbath with Dio, not bad, but nothing really impressive". However, soon after, all kinds of different elements started turning this whole thing into a highly varied and mature doom metal album, much to my delight.
Shadow Witch is a band from New York and this is indeed their debut. The members have been listening to old school hard rock, doom metal, stoner rock and grunge a lot in their days and now translate all those influences into their own sound. That sound contains loads of fuzz, fingerlicking riffs and damn great vocals. The whole reeks of the early eighties of the late seventies, or both, and is simply a solid statement about good music.
'Anticipation' opens the album, but unfortunately is not the best song on here. Like I said in the opening paragraph, the real mouthwatering doom comes after. Even so, don't get me wrong, 'Anticipation' still is an excellent song but kinda lack the "bang"-feeling I expected. Title track 'Sun Killer' does the trick, blending vintage doom metal with elements from grunge, as if Alice In Chains & Soundgarden invaded Candlemass' recording studio.
The grunge elements are present throughout the entire album. They give the whole a gritty, raunchy atmosphere while still being immersive as fuck. The speedy and heavy 'Blitzkrieg' and the stunning 'Blood on the Vine' are probably my favorite tracks, but I think that's still debatable since the whole album gradually grows upon me. The grunge elements also seem to grow bigger and bigger. In fact, 'Creeper' is a great song that Soundgarden forgot to write. This song actually made me add the "grunge"-tag on top of this review.
The clean, but strong vocal performance on this album definitely adds a lot of credibility to the whole thing. So do the drums, and the bass. It seems like everyone pitched in to get the best out of his instrument. The songwriting is solid, the production is excellent. That being said, if 'Headless Army' doesn't make you bang your head, you're not a doom metal fan. This one is as vintage as it can get.
Right, I think you got a decent idea about what this debut album is all about. With this one, Shadow Witch reach for the bigger stages at many stoner, doom and metal festivals. I hope they make it, and I definitely hope at least one of those stages is situated in Belgium. No doubt in my mind that these songs will cause a massive fuzzfest. So check it out, you won't be disappointed.
Serge
Shadow Witch is a band from New York and this is indeed their debut. The members have been listening to old school hard rock, doom metal, stoner rock and grunge a lot in their days and now translate all those influences into their own sound. That sound contains loads of fuzz, fingerlicking riffs and damn great vocals. The whole reeks of the early eighties of the late seventies, or both, and is simply a solid statement about good music.
'Anticipation' opens the album, but unfortunately is not the best song on here. Like I said in the opening paragraph, the real mouthwatering doom comes after. Even so, don't get me wrong, 'Anticipation' still is an excellent song but kinda lack the "bang"-feeling I expected. Title track 'Sun Killer' does the trick, blending vintage doom metal with elements from grunge, as if Alice In Chains & Soundgarden invaded Candlemass' recording studio.
The grunge elements are present throughout the entire album. They give the whole a gritty, raunchy atmosphere while still being immersive as fuck. The speedy and heavy 'Blitzkrieg' and the stunning 'Blood on the Vine' are probably my favorite tracks, but I think that's still debatable since the whole album gradually grows upon me. The grunge elements also seem to grow bigger and bigger. In fact, 'Creeper' is a great song that Soundgarden forgot to write. This song actually made me add the "grunge"-tag on top of this review.
The clean, but strong vocal performance on this album definitely adds a lot of credibility to the whole thing. So do the drums, and the bass. It seems like everyone pitched in to get the best out of his instrument. The songwriting is solid, the production is excellent. That being said, if 'Headless Army' doesn't make you bang your head, you're not a doom metal fan. This one is as vintage as it can get.
Right, I think you got a decent idea about what this debut album is all about. With this one, Shadow Witch reach for the bigger stages at many stoner, doom and metal festivals. I hope they make it, and I definitely hope at least one of those stages is situated in Belgium. No doubt in my mind that these songs will cause a massive fuzzfest. So check it out, you won't be disappointed.
Serge
