Witchthroat Serpent – Trove of Oddities at the Devil’s Driveway
Origin: France
Release: 03.03.2023
Label: Heavy Psych Sounds
Duration: 41:42
Genre: Occult Doom Metal
Witchthroat Serpent were founded in Toulouse more than ten years ago. Trove of Oddities at the Devil’s Driveway is the fourth studio album. There will also be an EP and a split release with the band Dead Witches. After the third studio album Swallow The Venom in 2018 there was with Ugo Griffin Vulture the last change in the line up on bass.
In terms of content, everything has remained the same. There are mystical and occult themes that are combined with horror stories from literature and film on the current long player. The present album was created in 2019 and 2020 and was only recorded following the easing of the pandemic restrictions in September 2022 at Kerwax Studio in Brittany. The band attached great importance to the fact that the recordings were made analog and without digital equipment and mastering. A maximum of old style.
Hypnotic slowness and maximum heaviness
Even though many Stoner friends can be found in the sound, it is above all flawless Doomy woofers that the band creates. Compared to the previous albums, the French concentrated even more on a slow and intensive sound. This hypnotic slowness and callousness might be the connecting element to the stoner faction. Another connecting element are the fuzzy and distorted guitars, which sometimes produce psychedelic effects.
The opener Multi-dimensional Marvelous Throne makes it clear with its slow and high-frequency frequencies that the band is not looking for the easy way to the average listener. Compared to the previous albums, the songs are darker and also feel tougher in flow.
This is joined Fredrik Bolzans sad, sometimes plaintive song. But the boys are always calm. So the use of the vocals in the opener sometimes takes several minutes and also in the comparatively shorter one Nosferatu’s Mastery is played well below any midtempos.
A soul of black lava
Again very psychedelic the instrumental plays around us The Gorgon. Guitar effects create images in our minds of the bogeys from Greek mythology. Oscillating frequencies, echoing effects and quirky guitar tones create nebulous images in our imagination. High, singing tones and siren-like singing at the end let us switch between darkness and beauty.
A prime example of intense sound, dark lyrics supported with old film sequences is at The House That Dripped Blood. You can do the track HERE representative of the feeling of the entire album. Even if Yellow Nacre seems even more intense and brute at first, abandoned Witchthroat Serpent not the slowness. The quartet is not willing to loosen up the sound with temporary outbursts until the last riff.
The fact that everything sounds so compact, uncompromising and sometimes even like sludge is also due to the concentrated riffing. Although the fat bass opens with the last Doomer, the guitars immediately take over and determine the tempo. The drums only beat everything deeper into the bloody ground. Finally we end at Mountain Temple In Bleakness with fuzzy effects peppered with theatrical scrap collages from B movies.
Conclusion
Witchthroat Serpent give up Trove of Oddities at the Devil’s Driveway absolutely uncompromising. Riff-driven, tough and soaked with venous blood, this album is a maximum of Doom, which will probably take the breath away of casual listeners. 8 / 10
Line Up
Fredrik Bolzann – guitar, vocals
Ügo Greifengeier – Bass
Niko Lass – drums
Djé Cndrs – Gitarre
Tracklist
01. Multi-dimensional Marvelous Throne
02. Nosferatu’s Mastery
03. The Gorgon
04. The House That Dripped Blood
05. Yellow Nacre
06. Mountain Temple In Bleakness
Links
Facebook Witchthroat Serpent
Instagram Witchthroat Serpent
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