It’s not black metal, though
It’s perfectly plausible for bands and artists who typically operate on a harsher plane to tone things down a bit. Musicians like Myrkur and Aaron Turner are among the many who have shown how that balance can be fruitful. But it can be an entirely different story when unexpected. Aaron Turner and Myrkur are known for their experimentation, seemingly toying equally with coarse and delicate aural textures since the start. For Magnus Pelander and his band Witchcraft, blending doom with blues and psychedelic stoner rock was what locked fans originally—the self-titled 2004 debut and 2007’s The Alchemist particularly stand out from the Rise Above Records releases. But with Witchcraft’s latest release Black Metal, their MO has entirely switched. It’s not necessarily doom, blues, or psychedelic stoner rock, and it surely isn’t black metal either.
Seemingly stripped of his band members, Pelander takes the entirety of the lead on the record. With just him and a guitar, Black Metal is 33 minutes’ worth of acoustic neofolk leaning emotional wailing. It’s certainly unexpected and would likely be a shock for seasoned Witchcraft fans expecting what drew them in, to begin with. Opener “Elegantly Expressed Depression” is a tone-setter nominally and sonically—its dreary and obviously somber nature carries out through the rest of the album, almost to a fault. Because the entire album is like a slow-burning fire, it’s hard to differentiate between the tracks, as they each showcase Pelander’s country-adjacent style of vocals, while also not varying at all in terms of instrumentation. “Grow” may be memorable for Pelander’s repetitive howl as may “A Boy and a Girl,” because the lyrics “she looks like a girl that looks like a boy” are curiously strange.
By all means, it’s not that Black Metal isn’t a terrible album, there’s just not much there to dive into. The only thing to really pay attention to is the lyrics, so if the concept of “A Boy and a Girl” intrigues you, consider the whole album something to dive into.
Leave a Comment