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It
wasn’t just a handful, but perhaps all who heard it,
who were converted by the thick folksy sounds of Totem
first, and then Jex Thoth. To those, waiting for a new
recording has been torture, an excruciating wait of
uncertainty. Theirs were sounds capable to covert, doom
with a misty aura and a haunting vocalist, unsettling
soul stirrers with a hidden groove. Which makes Witness
all the more surprising. There hasn’t been a shift in
sound as much as a downgrade in production. The song
structures are virtually the same, the moods and pacing
quite similar. That these songs can stand on their own,
proudly against the band’s old material, is testament to
the quality of the songwriting, but not so much to the
choices made during the recording of Witness.
Spaces that
were previously taken by incredibly thick low tuned guitars are
now reserved for a church organ, which does some nice lead work,
especially on the beautiful “Raven Nor the Spirit”, but do not
shine on “Slow Rewind” nor on the Slapp Happy cover of “Mr
Rainbow”. You can still hear the guitars but that robust sound
is gone and what’s left is just shades of heaviness and
electricity relegated to the last pew. On “Slow Rewind” there
is a moment of sheer heavy metal. From a tired cadence to an
energizing guitar riff, the moods should come along but this is
difficult due to the weak guitar sound.
This
recording is raw, beyond that, Witness sounds like a demo that
hasn’t been mastered. The sounds are flimsy, the drums cadaveric.
What’s more hurtful, this approach or oversight blocks some of
the nicest nuances. If there was an intention to keep the
psychedelia within the band that, for the most part, is long
gone. Unless you can count a church organ as psychedelic those
who dig that are in for a disappointment.
The moods
and humor can still be felt. If anything because the
performances are still flawless. But is hard to listen to
Witness without thinking of how good it could have been had it
only been handled properly. Jex Thoth still sings like an
angel. Commanding without being forceful, melodious like few in
the metal realm. What matters is that we still have her up front
and when she is singing everything else is secondary.
Official Site
MySpace
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