WITCHPIT - FOREVER SPOKEN ... review

There are times in any music addicts life where the only music that will satisfy is something full on and furious, for such times the universe has gifted us Witchpit a four piece outfit from South Carolina consisting of Jesse Lane (bass); Jeremy Grobsmith (drums); Thomas White (guitars) and Denny Stone (vocals). The band have described their sound as High On Fire flavoured heavy stoner rock mixed with the more moody and thoughtful work of Neurosis, a description that many fortunate enough to have heard the bands debut "The Weight Of Death" will no doubt agree with. This year Witchpit release the follow up to their debut with "Forever Spoken" (Heavy Psych Sounds Records) and if you thought these guys could not get anymore gnarlier and in your face then you are in for a big surprise. 

Title track "Forever Spoken" kicks off proceedings and from note one it is evident that Witchpit are not going to take you gently by the hand and whisper sweet nothings into your ear,  no this is more akin to being serenaded by a denizen of the underworld backed by Satan's favourite house band. We are talking gnarly, gritty, grimy doomic flavoured sludge metal here fronted by a vocalist who sounds like his larynx has been torn to shreds by too much smoke, too much whiskey and just about too much of everything. "Through Eyes of Apathy" follows and if you thought that the intensity was about to let up one iota you were wrong, in fact the intensity of Witchpit's attack increases tenfold, Stone's vocals get nastier and the grooves supplied by Lane, White and Grobsmith get grimier, the only flicker of light to be found here being White's brief but tasteful guitar solo which is delivered clean and piercing. Third track "Mouth Piece of Hate" when examined closely is not actually as heavy as it first seems, the song possesses a groove that is less blackened doom and more sludgy circular stoner rock, however it is a groove made to feel heavier simply due to the intensity of Stone's no quarter given vocals, which never drop below full on and caustic. "Panacea" finds Stone's vocals routinely switching between demonic and guttural beneath which Lane and Grobsmith lay down a deliciously fractious sludgy doom meets alt-metal groove White layering the results with equally fractious chord progressions and searing solos. The following two tracks "New Age Fallacy" and "Becoming I" are both full on metallic barn burners with the former just shading it over the latter courtesy of its mid-section breakdown. Which brings us to final track "Silver Turns To Rust" a riff heavy doomic tome fronted by slightly more drawn out and drawled vocal tones beneath which dark edgy guitar textures , expertly supported by grizzled bass and industrious drumming, thrum and fizz like an overloaded power cable.

Witchpit tell us that "Forever Spoken" is an album that lyrically explores "the trials, adversities, and struggles that shape our journey and challenge our ability to fulfil our destiny" whether that concept translates to the listener quite the way the band intended is obviously down to the individual listener but even if you do or don't buy into their concept you are still left with an album of music that kicks harder than a mule on steroids, it's a win-win whichever way you look at it. 

Check it out .... 

© 2024 Frazer Jones