DESERT WITCH ~ LA OTRA RAZÓN .... review

Chile is fast becoming Desert Psychlist's go-to when searching for new music sitting in the canon of underground rock music and like it has done in the past (and hopefully will do in the future) the scene has thrown up another shining gem. Desert Witch, Valeria Pérez (vocals); Emilio Nova (guitar); Eduardo Fuentes (bass) and Alejandro Sanhueza (drums), hail from the Chilean capital Santiago and jam grooves that are located at the more occult rock end of the doom spectrum, their sound is dark and atmospheric and possesses an insidious edginess but is offset with vocal melodies (sang in Spanish) that have a rich swooning quality. The band have just released their first album "La Otra Razón" and we think its a keeper!

Proceedings kick off with "Oxidado", which if Google's translation tool is to believed is a lyrical homage to an old rusty automobile, here we find Desert Witch jamming a groove that sits somewhere between proto-doom and heavy desert rock with thrumming power chords crunching out over tight busy percussion and heavily fuzzed bass, as good as this groove is (and its is VERY good) it is Pérez's vocals that grab the attention, her vocal here delivered smooth and clean with just a hint of throaty grittiness. Desert Witch wander into lysergic bluesy doom territory for their next song "Cruza el Puente" with Pérez again delivering a faultless vocal performance, her tones lilting and powerful, it is however Nova's guitar work that catches the ear here his feel drenched sweeping solos are sublime as are the thick heavily distorted tones he chooses to employ when the song shifts into the Sabbathian gallop that takes it to its close. "Embrujo" follows, a song about bewitchment and infatuation that is anchored around a superbly executed doom groove, courtesy of the highly impressive Fuentes and Sanhueza, into which Nova injects Iommi-esque guitar textures and which Pérez decorates with a slightly more low key, but no less impressive, vocal. "Sin Cadenas" sees Desert Witch showing us that as well as having dark and atmospheric in their locker they also have upbeat and rocking. The band return to their atmospheric default settings for the thrummingly proto-doomic "Acido" and its two following tracks the the dark and dank "Sin Control", and the swirling "Bótalo" all three songs seeing Pérez blending into her vocals elements of edgy gravitas. A quick Google translation of the lyrics for title track "La Otra Razón" shows them to be quite deep and slightly disturbing, the lyrics referencing a slow freezing death which goes a long way in explaining the songs initial stoner doom pacing and the emotional quality of Pérez's vocal, having said that the song does shift up a few gears into stoner/proto-doom territory in its middle section but only to then return to its atmospheric beginnings as it approaches its close. It back to upbeat and rocking for penultimate number "Silueta de Humo" Nova, Fuentes and Sanhueza furnishing Pérez with a hard driven musical backdrop of heavy rocking groove to decorate with her stunning vocal prowess. For final number "Medusa" Pérez steps aside to allow the rest of the band their moment in the spotlight and they run with it in spectacular style with Fuentes and Sanhueza laying down a barrage of dark insidious groove for Nova to hang his riffs, arpeggios and solos on, this instrumental piece serving as a fitting outro to what has been overall a highly engaging listening experience.

In a scene inundated with bands bearing variations on the words "witch" and "desert" do we really need another one, well in this case we do. Desert Witch might have lacked a little imagination when picking the banner under which they chose to make their music but there is no lack of imagination in the music they make. "La Otra Razón" is a stunning release from its start to its finish, an album that in places is dark dank and atmospheric and in others is upbeat and rocking, an outstanding debut from what is quite frankly an outstanding band.

Check it out ..... 

© 2025 Frazer Jones