Easton Connell

Hello! and welcome to the first of a (hopefully) weekly series of posts in which I write about the record that is currently in HEAVY ROTATION at home. Occasionally the records will be new releases, but more often than not they will just be whatever I happen to be really stoked on at the time.

Several weeks ago I was picking up a special order at Missing Link Records and asked Adam if there was anything else I should check out. Graham quickly interjected “You probably want that Witch record right there,” and pointed to the rack. I’d seen the cover at the Link a few times but had never picked up. I asked what it was and when Adam told me it was “J Mascis’ band – ” I put it on the counter without needing any further information and took it home with me.

Witch’s eponymous debut, released in 2006 by Tee Pee Records, is heavy with searing riffs that evoke the occulted otherworldliness of the band’s namesake. I’m still relatively new to the world of heavy metal taxonomy so I hesitate to dub this record “doom” or “stoner metal” and leave it at that. It’s supernatural, psychedelic heavy metal tinged with elements of blues and drone from the heart of the maghrib. Do they have a word for that?

“Seer” kicks off the album with a feedback drenched riff that is equal parts blister and blues. The songs that follow maintain the same seething momentum, especially the tracks with even slower tempos. “Soul of Fire” stands out as the fastest track on the record, as raucous as an open road under a sun-lit desert sky. It’s followed by “Black Saint,” a moss-covered mountainous crag of a track that establishes the slow, low, and heavy tone of the rest of the album.

I find it hard to believe that the legend of Rip van Winkle hasn’t already been mined into triteness by a genre of music that touts “live slow, die whenever” as a slogan, and yet Witch seems to be the first one to the territory. The supernatural vocals traced over the heady riffs and thundering drums of “Rip van Winkle” perfectly set a scene of bearded men silently assembled in the Catskills, presaging a twenty-year slumber by the song’s protagonist.

My favorite track on the record might be its closer, the ethereal and cyclical “Isadora.” It opens with clean guitar tones and cymbal washes, delicately laid over by Thomas’ somnambulant vocals. The interplay of the layers and contrasting tones of the guitars give the song the feel of something ancient and nocturnal. Inevitably, Witch’s trademark heavy distortion and equally heavy drums plunge in after four minutes for a quick and speedy bridge before the tempo plummets back down for the haunting and hypnotizing refrain: “Isadora…” The perfect finale for such a heavy and heady record.

Witch consists of J Mascis (of Dinosaur Jr fame) on the drums, Dave Sweetapple on bass, Asa Irons and Kyle Thomas on guitar with Thomas also contributing vocals. They followed up 2006’s s/t with Paralyzed in 2008. Check out Witch below and hound your local record vendor to get a physical copy, or order direct from the label here.