DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN
Ire Works
(Relapse)

ROSETTA
Wake/Lift
(Translation Loss)

OM
Pilgrimage
(Southern Lord)

SICK PORKY
Ancestral
(Zonda)

RED LIMO
Soulful Attack EP
(Self-Released)

AUTOMATIC 7
At Funeral Speed 

(Mental)

DON'T MESS WITH 
TEXAS
Los Dias de Junio

(Moonlee)

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Swedish retro ga-gas Witchcraft have moved light years backwards. Not really in their sound, which was already quite rustic to begin with, but in their songwriting, perfecting their chops until their vintage take on classic rock is dead on beautiful and makes me think of moths and flapping butterflies, witches walking circles around dead trees, night bonfires with people playing the flute and dancing like cute little dwarves and that goofy wizard hat Richie Blackmore has been seen donning lately around Long island restaurants.  Hats off to the band who have produced a gorgeous piece of work that is obviously more than a simple homage, but a deep throat fellatio to all those old European (and maybe one or two American) bands they so clearly kneel in front of and worship.  And an upward finger to those mullet-headed whiners protesting the highly trendy factor of this band. Their loss boy, they are absolutely missing out, unless they don’t like this kind of music in which case, I assume they are too metal for Witchcraft.  The Alchemist is plain and simple classic rock at its best, stoner rock at its most refined, old simple blues rock as left off by a crippled Deep Purple way back at the tail of the 70’s, the best prequel to Black Sabbath’s debut. Witchcraft’s sound is so vintage indeed, they make Black Sabbath sound like Kraftwerk (notice how I didn’t say Prodigy or some shit).

What I much appreciate about Witchcraft’s rock and roll (I am truly not convinced this should be called metal, unless ‘wood metal’ becomes a sub genre) is their sense of calmness. Never do these Swedes go unnerved, or want to swing their arms helicopter style a la Pete Townshend, or the awesomely named vocalist/guitarist Magnus Pelander feels like screaming banshee style like the great Ian Gillan. Witchcraft is a band of control, which reflects in their finesse. I mean, during the recording of The Alchemist did they transport themselves to old times when worries and tragedies did not drown our minds? Or are they simply so stupidly stoned that they don’t care and as a result sketch tunes as impressively great yet fully clothed as the sax-laced “Remember” which seems to float in a pool of bongwater. How do they manage to be epic without being ridiculous with the impressive title track?   Is this calmness only apparent? Is their long hair a sign of their hippieness instead of their allegiance to the hordes of Satan? Is their careful plucking a result of going blind from so much hash burning, or are they just prone to lay lethargic while staring at the Moroccan carpet mounted on the wall. Great stuff through and through. Wonder what they’d sound like if someone forced some meth in their pipes?

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