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Trollheart · 10-12-2013, 09:30 AM

South of Salem --- Witch Mountain --- 2011 (Self-released)

Not to be confused with German metal band Mountain Witch, these guys first came to my attention purely by accident and only really because they are to my knowledge the only doom metal band to have a female vocalist. I could be wrong there of course, but I haven't heard of any others. Then again I'm hardly a doom aficionado (unless you're talking about the computer game!) so what would I know? But the idea of a woman singing the deep, throaty music of doom metal intrigued me and I bought their "Cauldron of the wild" album, and reviewed it some time back. I wouldn't say I was blown away by it, and in areas it seemed quite plodding (well, this is doom metal after all!) but it was an interesting experience.

So here's their album prior to that. They don't seem to have released that much, from their inception in 1997 --- three albums and two EPs --- so there wasn't that much to choose from. This is almost more an EP in itself, with only six tracks total, although one is twelve minutes long. It opens on dark, screechy feedback guitar from Rob Wrong that then becomes grindy, sludgy, slow and stomping riffs before Uta Plotkin comes in with the vocal as "Wing of the lord" gets underway. Her voice really changes the overall style of the music: it's not deep, throaty, growly or really that heavy; I'd say sort of like if Janis Joplin had sung metal. It's very powerful though and being a woman she can reach much higher registers with less effort than her male counterparts.

There's also a sense of the likes of Ann Wilson about her voice, very strong and at times edging into operatic territory. I've heard Wrong's guitar work before as I say and it's pretty damn good, though here he's a little restricted, not ripping off too much in the way of solos, and keeping a crunching main melody more or less all through the song. Some nice stuff at the end from him, then we're on to "Plastic cage", with a super little dark bassline before the guitars crash in. It's a little faster than the opener, though not much, sort of slow grind boogie feel to it. "South sugar" then is sort of more in the blues mould, heavy as hell and reminds me a little of a much slower Deep Purple.

"End game" is a nice little melodic piece, shortest track other than the closer, which is basically a reprise of it. More boogie rock in this with a great vocal from Uta, possibly doubletracked unless she's invited in some other female to take backing vocals duty. The tempo slows down then in the last minute, very doomy and very effective. The epic is up next, and "Hare's stare" runs for twelve minutes and change, opening on deep acoustic guitar, low-key and laidback until the electric smashes in and Rob Wrong takes control of the intro. Lyric seems to be fairly political, though they seem to be hard to find anywhere to check. Definitely something about children in poverty or danger though.

This is where Rob Wrong gets to show off what he can do on the fretboard, and it's mighty impressive. He's no Iommi but he can certainly play. Bit of an odd little spoken bit right at the end, then a reprise, as I said, of "End game", which seems to consist, rather cooly, of just a guitar solo to close the album. And how better to finish a metal album than with an extended piece of axework? Well, not that extended: the whole track only lasts just under a minute and a half. But a good way to close certainly.

TRACKLISTING

1. Wing of the lord
2. Plastic cage
3. South sugar
4. End game
5. Hare's stare
6. End game (Slight return)

Witch Mountain are certainly not the best metal band in the world. From what I've experienced here, they're not even the best doom metal band. But they are refreshing and new in ways, and they have one hell of a singer. Despite the name they don't seem to focus too much on occult or magic in their lyrics, and they definitely don't seem to espouse a Satanic sort of image. It's just a name, possibly a real name, a mountain that just happens to be called Witch Mountain. Or maybe it's a play on which mountain? I don't know. But they sure churn out some good metal.

And in the end, isn't that what Man has striven for since he first jammed on headphones? Kiff! I'm asking you a question!

Read more here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orphaned_Land

10-12-2013, 09:30 AM	#1943 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,996	South of Salem --- Witch Mountain --- 2011 (Self-released) Not to be confused with German metal band Mountain Witch, these guys first came to my attention purely by accident and only really because they are to my knowledge the only doom metal band to have a female vocalist. I could be wrong there of course, but I haven't heard of any others. Then again I'm hardly a doom aficionado (unless you're talking about the computer game!) so what would I know? But the idea of a woman singing the deep, throaty music of doom metal intrigued me and I bought their "Cauldron of the wild" album, and reviewed it some time back. I wouldn't say I was blown away by it, and in areas it seemed quite plodding (well, this is doom metal after all!) but it was an interesting experience. So here's their album prior to that. They don't seem to have released that much, from their inception in 1997 --- three albums and two EPs --- so there wasn't that much to choose from. This is almost more an EP in itself, with only six tracks total, although one is twelve minutes long. It opens on dark, screechy feedback guitar from Rob Wrong that then becomes grindy, sludgy, slow and stomping riffs before Uta Plotkin comes in with the vocal as "Wing of the lord" gets underway. Her voice really changes the overall style of the music: it's not deep, throaty, growly or really that heavy; I'd say sort of like if Janis Joplin had sung metal. It's very powerful though and being a woman she can reach much higher registers with less effort than her male counterparts. There's also a sense of the likes of Ann Wilson about her voice, very strong and at times edging into operatic territory. I've heard Wrong's guitar work before as I say and it's pretty damn good, though here he's a little restricted, not ripping off too much in the way of solos, and keeping a crunching main melody more or less all through the song. Some nice stuff at the end from him, then we're on to "Plastic cage", with a super little dark bassline before the guitars crash in. It's a little faster than the opener, though not much, sort of slow grind boogie feel to it. "South sugar" then is sort of more in the blues mould, heavy as hell and reminds me a little of a much slower Deep Purple. "End game" is a nice little melodic piece, shortest track other than the closer, which is basically a reprise of it. More boogie rock in this with a great vocal from Uta, possibly doubletracked unless she's invited in some other female to take backing vocals duty. The tempo slows down then in the last minute, very doomy and very effective. The epic is up next, and "Hare's stare" runs for twelve minutes and change, opening on deep acoustic guitar, low-key and laidback until the electric smashes in and Rob Wrong takes control of the intro. Lyric seems to be fairly political, though they seem to be hard to find anywhere to check. Definitely something about children in poverty or danger though. This is where Rob Wrong gets to show off what he can do on the fretboard, and it's mighty impressive. He's no Iommi but he can certainly play. Bit of an odd little spoken bit right at the end, then a reprise, as I said, of "End game", which seems to consist, rather cooly, of just a guitar solo to close the album. And how better to finish a metal album than with an extended piece of axework? Well, not that extended: the whole track only lasts just under a minute and a half. But a good way to close certainly. TRACKLISTING 1. Wing of the lord 2. Plastic cage 3. South sugar 4. End game 5. Hare's stare 6. End game (Slight return) Witch Mountain are certainly not the best metal band in the world. From what I've experienced here, they're not even the best doom metal band. But they are refreshing and new in ways, and they have one hell of a singer. Despite the name they don't seem to focus too much on occult or magic in their lyrics, and they definitely don't seem to espouse a Satanic sort of image. It's just a name, possibly a real name, a mountain that just happens to be called Witch Mountain. Or maybe it's a play on which mountain? I don't know. But they sure churn out some good metal. And in the end, isn't that what Man has striven for since he first jammed on headphones? Kiff! I'm asking you a question! Read more here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orphaned_Land __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018 Last edited by Trollheart; 10-25-2013 at 12:49 PM.