Wednesday, May 03, 2006
Tune Down The Guitars, J. Mascis Gets His Probot On!
Witch: Witch
By: Rinjo Njori

A few years ago Dave Grohl released the self-titled Probot, his labor of love that assembled metal’s premier front men for a one-off project that paid tribute to the genre’s signature sound with original songs co-written by Grohl and each singer. The disc was great and Grohl amazingly laid the groundwork and executed a satisfying tribute to all those bands while essentially offering up fresh songs. However, what J. Mascis (Dinosaur Jr., J Mascis and the Fog) is doing with Witch is a lot different. In fact, the only two things these projects have in common is: 1) the drummers, now guitarists, are returning to the skins and 2) the bands play metal. On Witch, J. Mascis (drums) is joined by Dave Sweetapple (bass), Kyle Thomas (guitar and vocals) and Asa Irons (guitar).

Witch saunters through seven extremely heavy songs in the vein of Kyuss and early-Sabbath, a style best summed up as stoner or doom metal. Some songs are very traditional Sabbath (Black Sabbath/Paranoid era), while other songs experiment with the more current desert metal genre (Kyuss, Blues for the Red Sun, Dead Meadow). In terms of lyrics, Witch also covers the usual topics of the doom/stoner genre:mystics ("Seer"), lost souls ("Changing"), evil babies ("Black Saint") and mythical characters ("Rip Van Winkle"). They aren’t breaking any new ground but they are keeping it interesting for the faithful. "Seer" floats through the signature sound of Kyuss with psychedelic overtones, while "Black Saint," "Isadora" and "Hand Of Glory" seem to respectively include or rework the great Sabbath songs "Iron Man," "A Bit of Finger/Sleeping Village" and "Hand of Doom." The lyrics are all Witch but the arrangements are definitely Sabbathesque, especially on "Isadora." As a whole, Witch appear to be having a lot of fun even if they are not breaking any new ground. Kyle Thomas’ vocals sound almost exactly like Dead Meadow’s Jason Simon, which can, at times, seem overly lazy. J. Mascis and Dave Sweetapple are an able rhythm section, and they come together and shine on "Rip Van Winkle." Kyle Thomas and Asa Irons’ guitar work is what gives Witch its credibility. Each riff and lead seems almost effortless, which is surprising since their primary band is described as "avant folk."

As a band, Witch succeeds on many levels. On one level, they are a bunch of friends making music that requires a certain amount of imagination ("Black Saint"). On another level, this is "new," J. Mascis is playing an instrument which he gave up years ago and tackling a genre which for the most part is for die-hard metal heads. As a recording, Witch succeeds across the board. The band has written seven extremely distinctive songs which pull their inspiration from the stoner and doom metal genres, a genre which can be overindulgent and gluttonous. If Witch’s members could devote time to this effort they could develop quite a cult following. However, J. Mascis’ commitments to alternative icons Dinosaur Jr. should squash that possibility.

// posted by schultz @ 4:54 AM