Witchden
Deus Nihil
Twin Town Tyrant Records
Album review by Allyson Kingsley music journalist with Metal Coffee/Metal Moose
Witchden formed in 2010 and they are from Minneapolis, Minnesota. I've never pictured Minnesota as anything more than a snow covered wonderland but apparently there's metal brewing quite a bit there. Witchden is described as death metal, sludge and black metal. An interesting combination indeed. Their first album was Consulting The Bones in 2012 and followed by Salt The Earth in 2016. Both are available on Bandcamp to check out. If you enjoy your metal on the harsh and extreme side, Witchden will keep you thoroughly entertained. The band members are Blake Reed (vocals), Adam Rivkin (guitar), Andy Green (bass), Jeff Moen (drums) and Kory McNamara (guitar). Their current album is Deus Nihil and it was recorded and mixed by Will Maravelas at 14:59 Studios. They have toured with Uada, Ghostbath, Weedeater, Windhand and Trouble among others. Most notably in the summer of 2019 they were direct support for Gojira.
"Firelink" begins the album with a thunderstorm intro thus setting the atmosphere. "From Ash" and "Wither" definitely have a blackened death metal sound, while you hear more of a sludge component in "Craving Agony".
We come to my absolute favorite song on the album "Abhorrent Rite". It is morbid and very dark and pleased my love and respect of the black metal genre. I'm hearing Mayhem-esque riffing all throughout the track. Check out some of the lyrics:
This is poetry to my blackened soul. "The Chasm" is slightly different and I can't exactly pinpoint but perhaps it's a thrashy element. Again with the vitriolic lyrics that endear me to these bands:
"Note to Self" brings back the death metal element as well as keeping the shadowy overcast atmosphere. We end the album with "Finding Death" beautifully done in what I can only describe as a death/doom (heavy on the doom) mixture.
For whatever reason this album reminds me of the quote from Dante's Inferno "Before me things create were none, save things Eternal, and eternal I endure. Abandon hope, all ye who enter here.”. Perhaps this album would be the perfect backdrop to this piece of literature. Very well done. Step into the shadows and enjoy.
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