WyndRider are a stoner doom outfit hailing from East Tennessee consisting of Richard Bucher (drums); Joshuwah Herald (bass); Chloe Gould (vocals) and Robbie Willis (guitar). The band have not been in existence long and only played their first gig in March of 2022 but the release of a well received demo "Electrophillia", on Bandcamp, and the pre-album release teaser, "Pit Witch" has forced the denizens of the underground rock press to sit up and take notice, attention that has now been justified with the release of "WyndRider" the bands stunning self titled debut.
"Pit Witch", the song WyndRider first teased us with for this their debut, bursts out of the traps in a wave of proto-doomic riff heavy groove that blends Sabbathian dankness with bluesy heavy psych, not an unusual combination in this day and age we have to agree but then factor in Gould's hazy edged vocal tones and its not hard to see why this band are garnering so much attention. There is a touch of Windhand and Uta Plotkin era Witch Mountain in what WyndRider bring to the table musically and this is especially evident on the albums second track "Snake Children", which sees Willis laying down thick slabs of reverberating doomic riffage driven from beneath by Bucher's thunderous drums and Herald's bone rattling bass, Gould filling the spaces in between with a husky vocal, an air of jazzy smokiness in her tones. They say that familiarity breeds contempt but in doom familiarity breeds a deep seated love and that is the case with "Creator" a song buoyed by one of those doom grooves you will have heard a thousand times before and will no doubt here a thousand times more, here that groove is twinned with a slightly off kilter vocal delivery that has the effect of freshening up the grooves impact and revitalising it for both old and new ears. Down wanted to be buried in smoke WyndRider on the other hand want to you to be "Strangled by Smoke" and if Desert Psychlist had to choose a way to go out then listening to Gould's sultry voice filling our ears, while she pulls a smoky noose around our necks to a soundtrack of tightly wound doom, would be very high on our list of ways to wave sayonara. "Mother in Horns" follows and boasts a grizzled bass heavy proto-doom groove around which Gould weaves another of her ear-catching melodies, the song also features some very tasty lead work from Willis. "Electrophilia" is up next and the version that appears on this album is not that far removed from the version that graced the bands demo except here the production is much more luxurious with Gould's vocal reaping most of those benefits. "Sleeping Wizard", an instrumental, finds Herald spanking, tugging and slapping his bass strings over a backdrop of Hawkwind-esque swoops and swirls while final track "Space Paper Acid Saloon" finds the band slamming down the hammer and exploding into a chugging Sabbathian groove decorated in another superbly pitched vocal, Gould finding an extra ounce of huskiness in her vocal chords to take things to an altogether other level. The band also find space to insert heavily lysergic laced experimental sections into the equation, one serving as an intro and one appearing just before the heavy doom outro that closes proceedings, something that points to the possibilities of further experimentation on future releases.
Those anticipating something special coming from this relatively young band will not be disappointed with what they find on "WyndRider", it may not be a genre defining game-changer but there is enough to be found here to indicate that they have more than what it takes to make that calibre of album in the future, and for a band who most of us had not heard of prior to this release, that is damn impressive.
Check 'em out ....
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