Finally arriving, like an omen fulfilled in blood and mire, here lies Witchmoon's second full-length album, following up to the magnificent "Imprecation of Unbeing"
A project dwelling in the shadows ever since its inception with 2017's demo, "Vampyric Curse", Witchmoon has been undoubtedly one of the best acts in American Raw Black Metal these years. Now with a definitely cleaner sound, a trajectory that plenty of Lampshade Tapes house projects have followed, the production is however still crude, harrowing, cold, like a gelid storm of icey riffs that carve through flesh ancient symbols, portals to a realm beyond.
We are therefore cursed by a 28 minute maelstrom of otherwordly impurity. Malignant melodies swirling under a blood moon, following the traditions of acts like Mütiilation, Carn Dum, or their compatriots in Sanguine Relic, Triangulum, etc. Real and uncompromising Black Metal, some of the best to come out this year.
This turned out to be quite a surprise for me. I've been following this man's work for some years now and from my understanding Witchmoon was his current, sort of primitive, lofi noise black metal project. When I popped this bad boy on, courtesy of the mighty Death Hymns label, I was taken aback by a few changes.
First, gone is the extreme lofi production found on the first album. Now, I wouldn't call this a polished production, but you'll have no problem making out all the instruments. Everything is well separated now. The guitars are up front and have a nice tone (no piercing high end) and slight wash of reverb. The drums have a nice thumping, muffled sound. Vocals are quite far back and bass is... somewhere (you know how these things go). The second thing you'll notice is that there's a ton more happening in these tracks compared to previous works. The tracks on that first album were so minimal it's hard to think of them as "songs" in the traditional sense. On the present album, we have actually quite a lot of variation in all instruments and songs twist and turn nicely. The riffs are much more catchy this time around. We even get some nice minimal lead guitar too. Also noticeable, the drums are definitively real and do much more than just blast into oblivion. There's actually fills now! If they were real before, it's actually really impressive to get them sounding that mechanical.
So, those are the major changes. What does the music actually sound like? Well, one thing that's stayed the same is this project's focus on evil, haunting and surreal rhythms and melody. To me, it's the sound of witnessing some sort of ghastly otherworldly event that is simultaneously aversive and captivating in its splendor. This time around it's more sublime and less terrifying and psychotic, almost sounding pensive in parts, and in others, dare I say, upbeat. Another thing that's similar to previous works is the overall pace. This is quite speedy stuff, never slowing to a crawl. Riffs are repeated a tasteful number of times and songs to do not overstay their welcome. Another wise choice by the artist, we get a handful of little interludes that serve as breathers and contrast to the intensity. Some synth, some piano, some lone guitar; a nice touch. Taken together, It's a very lean album, clocking in just under 30 minutes. If it were a beer, I'd say it's like a crushable but high-quality lager.
Given these substantial changes, I'll be honest and admit that this album needed time to grow on me. I was expecting and somewhat looking forward to some more blown out madness. But, once I accepted the fact that this was it's own thing-- a clear departure from the past-- I grew to appreciate and recognize it's brilliance. No, this is not as experimental as the last album and is definitely not intended to push the genre forward into new territory. However, it's a very well-crafted, catchy and pleasant album that utilizes but expands upon previous elements and has in my opinion very few flaws. That said, I only have a few minor gripes, one of which is the above-mentioned lack of bass presence. Yes this is raw black metal (don't test me you noob), but I think having the bass a bit more up in the mix would have benefited this particular album. The other thing is the vocals. Overall they're good, but I think a tad more variation (I know he's capable of more) could have elevated this album further. Maybe even upping the vocals in the mix could have solved this problem. Anyhow, fans of raw but melodic black metal should take note and procure.
Sample: youtube.com/watch?v=4Q5pCLz1Hb0
