DEAD WITCHES
Doom metal legend is bringing the heavy (and the horror) once again his four-piece have channelled anxiety into a stunning racket
we all know horror and heavy metal are bonded by blood, and The Final Exorcism, the latest effort from Dead Witches, basks in demonic possession and reaffirms metal’s loving relationship with horror.
“I had the idea of exorcism because I’m really interested in it… a little bit obsessed really,” explains drummer Mark Greening. “Horror and doom just go together. When Black Sabbath came out, everyone was horrified! It’s music that scares you as a horror movie would, I guess. There’s not many horror films you’d have a happy tune to.”
For decades, metal, and in particular doom, have been paying homage to the lords of the riff. Revered for his contributions on Electric Wizard’s iconic Dopethrone and Let Us Pray,
Mark is blown away at how the genre Ta king cues from the likes of Svalbard and Converge, Austrian quartet Tripsitter blend emotional post-metal, shoegaze and thunderous hardcore with the occasional swirl of black metal-inspired atmospherics. The band have set out a bleak but beautiful stall that explores anxiety and uncertainty. “The album was [written] at a time where everything had changed for us,” says bassist Hubert Halder. “That feeling when you don’t know what you should do with your life came out pretty strong.”
Hailing from a small, remote village in the Austrian mountains, an inescapable sense of isolation looms has gone from strength to strength as doom has exploded in the underground.
“The scene is crazy now! I’ve really lost track of it, there are so many bands out there now playing doom. I remember when we started Electric Wizard in the early 90s there was only a handful of bands, it felt that there wasn’t a scene for this music; today, it’s just crazy! It blows you away sometimes. These albums that I did large over the quartet’s melancholic racket, a stomach-churning claustrophobia that’s been captured perfectly by Lewis Johns (Employed To Serve, Rolo Tomassi, Palm Reader) and Brad Boatright (Conjurer, Converge), who the band brought in to mix and master their debut. “Brad has done all the records which are our favourites,” says vocalist Meinhard Taxer. “And we knew Lewis from the albums he’s created. He totally understood what we wanted to create.”
With one hell of a team around them, not only did The Other Side Of Sadness lead to a deal with Venom Prison’s label, Prosthetic, but it’s also one of the most impressive opening statements Hammer has heard in ages.
THE OTHER SIDE OF SADNESS IS OUT NOW VIA PROSTHETIC a long time ago, I didn’t think back then that they would last the test of time and doom bands now would be worshipping those records. Back then, it was just three guys stoned out of their minds, having a laugh and trying to make music that sounded like
Black Sabbath!”
THE FINAL EXORCISM IS OUT NOW VIA HEAVY PSYCH SOUNDS