Review
Witch
Witch

Tee Pee (2006) Zed

Witch – Witch cover artwork
Witch – Witch — Tee Pee, 2006

If you've seen An Inconvenient Truth, the summer's biggest blockbuster hit, you know shit is hitting the fan. Carbon dioxide is seeping out from every industrial pore and the long-term effects of this are outright frightening. In terms of the short term, Al Gore put a major emphasis on an increase of heavy music. Not that Black Sabbath was ever un-cool, but this style of long-haired metal fantastical-riff-emphasized music is exponentially heightening. Case in point: Witch's Witch, seven songs that really know how to drive a riff without the need of wheels.

Combining J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr. with members of the recent neo-folk Feathers, Witch surprises us by putting Mascis on drums and some relative no-names to cover everything else. Instead of covering anybody's previous bouts, Witch decided to dive into hard rock, heavy metal style. Unlike today's metal groups that seem attempt to out-tech each other and gnosh at inhuman tempos, Witch goes for more of a jam speed with soothing vocals that are ready to conjure spells and lull your lady's legs wide open.

The biggest pitfall of Witch is putting the best track first, "Seer," with an eight minute never-ending riff that should just never end. What is nice about having such a powerful track first is that after you've repeated it a few times you can cool out to the remaining six tracks that can all stand on their own with a gloomy feel that makes much more sense when put in a forest-type context. By the time the last track, "Isadora," gallops in with its acoustic medieval feel, prepare to be drenched in fog. And as the electricity surges through the final guitar riffs, our epic journey both begins and ends.

With bands like Early Man and The Sword reaching popularity, I feel as if it would be unfair for a band as good as Witch to be overlooked. Al Gore might not have won the bid for president, but he did make a good point in An Inconvenient Truth when he said, "Thou shalt listen to Witch and smoke thy devil's lettuce."

8.8 / 10Zed • July 11, 2006

Witch – Witch cover artwork
Witch – Witch — Tee Pee, 2006

Related features

All Them Witches

One Question Interviews • April 6, 2015

Gay Witch Abortion

One Question Interviews • January 11, 2015

Related news

L.A. Witch joins Suicide Squeeze

Posted in Records on February 16, 2025

Dylan Desmond's Je Est Un Autre

Posted in Bands on February 3, 2024

Caterwaul 2024 lineup (wave 1)

Posted in Shows on January 19, 2024

Recently-posted album reviews

Dead Bars

All Dead Bars Go To Heaven
Iodine (2025)

Dead Bars has a unique talent of taking the everyday, the experiences you see and live all the time, and shining a new light on them to make them personal and interesting. I've written about it before, yet it's my job to say this again and to make it interesting. It's what Dead Bars does, so it only seems fitting … Read more

Painkiller

The Great God Pan
Tzadik (2025)

Painkiller, the trio of John Zorn, Bill Laswell, and Mick Harris shows no signs of slowing down. The Great God Pan is their third full-length, since their reunion in 2024, and in many ways it is an unexpected offering. In keeping with their interests in the metaphysical realm, Painkiller find inspiration from the famed Arthur Machen horror novella. Here, the … Read more

Painkiller

The Equinox
Tzadik (2025)

Painkiller sees three absolute masters of extreme music join forces. John Zorn of Naked City and a billion other projects, Mick Harris who transcended from Napalm Death drummer to illbient guru with Scorn, and producer extraordinaire Bill Laswell. Their first two records, Guts of a Virgin and Buried Secrets are strange meditations traversing between free-jazz, grindcore and dub. Still hungry … Read more