Maybe we should be a little concerned about throwing our lot in with Witch Hound's new coven given that they kick off their EP with "At The Stake" a song that describes in some detail what will happen if you are exposed as a witch (warlock in our case), oh well we've signed up now and we have to admit that those deeply echoed vocals resounding over vibrant thrumming doomic riffage and powerful strident rhythms does seem to have stared something stirring in our blood. Having explained that being burnt is one of the perils of joining their club Witch Hound now ask us to "Face The Wheel" now what "facing a wheel" actually entails is not best explained but let's be honest it doesn't sound that pleasant. The actual song though does have its merits, its pounding percussion and low level growling bass lines support some seriously crunching riffage and dank swirling lead work and those gothic laced vocals telling us to expect not just "searing heat" but "searing heat with misery" are pretty damn impressive. Final number "Black Talisman" tells us that death might be the least of our worries and that having joined Witch Hound's cabal we can now expect to travel on "a path too dark to see", not exactly selling it are they, but having said that those thick monstrous refrains, those thundering rhythms and those reverberating monastic vocals are so damn good you'll be selling your soul before you can say "get behind me Satan"
As a recruitment tool Witch Hound's "Starting A Coven" could do with a little work, the prospect of being burnt at a stake, facing a nasty sounding wheel or losing your soul could possibly hinder membership numbers somewhat, however as a debut EP from a fairly new doom orientated band this three tracker takes some serious beating.
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