WITCHCRAFT: Firewood

Cover	Release	Style
	2005-06-27	heavy rock / doom
	Label
	www.riseaboverecords.com
	Website
	www.witchcrafthome.com
	Contact

	Playing Time	Cat. N°
	45:28	RISECD 62
	Review by	Rating
	Vera	8,5/10
nederlands	Review
It seems years ago since I heard an album which sounds that retro as ‘Firewood’ of Witchcraft. I think I can only find something like this in my vinyl collection. And yet the musicians of this authentic Swedish collective are hardly a quart of a century of age. And their sound… that’s a conscious choice of course. Creative mind of this initiative is vocalist/guitarist Magnus Pelander who started the band as a tribute to Roky Erickson (13^th Floor Elevators) and Bobby Liebling (Pentagram). The phrasing and way of singing of Magnus have a lot in common with this last mentioned one. When he had gathered a number of musicians with a same vision around him, step by step some vintage sixties and seventies recording equipment was assembled and they started working at their debut with the assistance of producer Jens Henriksson. In the meantime Witchcraft had impressed some people with their limited seven inch which resulted in a deal with primeval doom label Rise Above Records. To make a second full length album, the band travelled to England with the same producer and returned with an outstanding album. ‘Firewood’ is filled with self-written songs with a warm, heartfelt and compact character. When they use a slightly distorted voice, the one that looms up in ‘Mr. Haze’, they evoke the atmosphere of early Jethro Tull (Aqualung period). The riffs are reverberated but not heavy as a ball of lead, the pace is moderate, but never snail slow. The slightly rattling guitars sound very spontaneous and the manifold guitar solos are a delight for our ears. The joy of playing shines off these musicians and this may sound pretty weird in our beloved doom genre, but that’s the way it is. Even in the ballad-alike ‘Sorrow Evoker’ they know how to fascinate and it is sung in a magnificent way. Not only for adepts of sludgy stoner rock or traditional doom (even if Black Sabbath remains a mega well of inspiration, but in this case at the latest till the ‘Master Of Reality’ album) but for every rock fan who sets value on a scintilla of nostalgia. This is an album that distinct itself from the multitude!
Musicians
Magnus Pelander: vocals, guitars John Hoyles: guitars Ola Henriksson: bass Jonas Arnesén: drums
Tracklist
Chylde Of Fire (2’50’’) If Wishes Were Horses (3’17’’) Mr. Haze (3’41’’) Wooden Cross (I can’t wake the dead) (4’47’’) Queen Of Bees (5’13’’) Merlin’s Daughter (1’32’’) I See a Man (4’00’’) Sorrow Evoker (5’44’’) You Suffer (2’43’’) Attention! (together with bonus track ‘When The Screams Come’ 11’41’’)


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