Witch Mountain - Witch Mountain

Witch Mountain are one of those bands that have to be listened, to be understood, gorgeous silky vocals, slow chuggy riffs, everything in their music is as it should be, it's a pleasure to listen to.

Now I have reviewed Witch Mountain before with their last album Mobile of Angels, since then they've changed vocalists as the incomparable Uta Plotkin left to pursue other projects, at the time I thought to myself who are they going to get to replace her? her voice was so perfect for Witch Mountain. From the first utterance of vocal on this album I knew they had found the PERFECT replacement, she keeps up with Uta and not only that she adds a little bit more darkness and age to the vocals which is surprising considering she's only 19, Kayla Dixon has that "it" factor that bands dream of having in their ranks. I feel like Witch Mountain is now complete.

The album only contains 5 tracks but it doesn't need any more than that to get the point across, they get through some really hefty material in such a short amount of time which is no mean feat. While Mobile of Angels was a pretty dark album, Witch Mountain eclipses that by a pretty large margin. Think of Mobile as someone dying slowly where everyone gets to say goodbye and by the end they're ready for the inevitable void. Witch Mountain is like someone dying suddenly in front of their friends and family and the grief and anger that would undoubtedly come afterwards. I guess?

I've already talked about the outstanding vocals, but that's not the only thing that stands out here, The guitars are chunky, slow and heavy but at times sparse and epic. The drums are incredible, they drive the songs to where they need to get to with such finesse, it's remarkable playing. The bass fills out the bottom end and gives the music so much meat, you can almost cut yourself off a piece. All in all I can't fault any of the musicianship on this album in the slightest, one of the most complete albums I've ever heard!

I mentioned before that there's only 5 tracks on this album but they are long and each track tells such an amazing story. The album starts with Midnight, a dark, angry song which is something we are used to hearing from Witch Mountain but not on this level, this track drags you down with it, you can feel the anger it was written with. Next is Mechanical World which is a more experimental type song which really allows Kayla to take her vocal cords for a bit of a stretch. Then comes Burn it Down which is a chunky doom epic, the vocals are really the show piece on this track. Hellfire is next which is a sparse acoustic, almost 1920's deep south blues style rock disasterpiece. Then the final track on the album Nighthawk which is a sprawling 15 minute doomy opus, with many ups, downs, lefts and rights, it almost compiles the album in upon itself and unleashes a final explosion of emotion.

After listening to Witch Mountain a few times I just can't get it out of my head, the groove is second to none it crawls along at a snails pace for the most part and drags you along with it, it's dark and gritty but at the same time light and airy... I feel exhausted after listening to the album but I'm still left wanting to hear it again. Such incredible song writing and with the addition of a new singer they haven't lost what makes Witch Mountain, Witch Mountain which is awesome.

Pros:

• Such incredible song writing
• The vocals are insanely good
• Great use of dark and light
• A more complete album has never been written

Cons:

• After hearing this album I just want more!

Track List:

1. Midnight
2. Mechanical World
3. Burn You Down
4. Hellfire
5. Nighthawk

Running time: 35:06

Line-up:

Nathan Carson - Drums
Rob Wrong - Guitars
Justin Brown - Bass
Kayla Dixon - Vocals

Genre: Doom / Blues
Release Date: May 25th 2018
Label: Svart Records
Links:
https://witchmountain.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/witchmountain/