BURNING WITCH

'Burning Witch' was an American doom metal band from Seattle, Washington in the mid to late 1990s.

Contents

History

Post-breakup

Sound

Discography

References

External links

History

After the breakup of the doom/death band Thorr's Hammer in 1995, Stephen O'Malley, Greg Anderson and Jamie Sykes formed Burning Witch. The band then added G. Stuart Dahlquist and vocalist Edgy 59, rounding out their lineup. Anderson left the band before they had recorded any real Burning Witch songs to start the band Goatsnake.
In 1996, the band in this incarnation recorded songs with renowned indie producer Steve Albini, which would become the Towers... EP. This collection would actually not see a formal release until 1998 on Slap A Ham Records. After the sessions for these songs, Sykes left the band and was replaced by B.R.A.D.
The sessions that followed the Albini recordings resulted in the Rift.Canyon.Dreams EP, which would prove to be the final recordings by the band, as they broke up soon after the disc was completed. It was released on Merciless Records, but like its predecessor, did not receive much attention outside its scene.^[1]

Post-breakup

''Crippled Lucifer'', a compilation CD of the two EPs, was released soon after on Southern Lord Records, the label founded by Anderson and O'Malley. Burning Witch performed their last shows in the fall of 1998 after which Edgy 59 left for Sinisstar, O'Malley reunited with Anderson to form Sunn O))), and Dahlquist joined Anderson in Goatsnake. Currently, O'Malley is in various projects including Sunn O))), and still runs Southern Lord Records. Dahlquist and B.R.A.D are in Asva.

Sound

Most of the music of Burning Witch is very slow and heavy with the drums slowly plodding along with the bass and guitar playing minimalist riffs. Emphasis usually put on spaces between notes, allowing the bass and guitar to resonate before proceeding to the next note. There are occasional bursts of feedback and noise from O'Malley which can be argued to be solos, but for the most part the guitar and bass follow each other.
One of the unique qualities of Burning Witch is Edgy 59's vocals which alter between a nasal and melodic singing voice to a brutal, tortured, and demented scream/shriek. All songs feature the scream/shriek, while some alternate between the scream/shriek and the singing.
There are noticeable differences between the songs on ''Towers...'' and ''Rift. Canyon.Dreams'' with ''Towers...'' being more intense and aggressive and ''Rift. Canyon.Dreams'' being more morose and brooding. However, the albums are not radical departures from each other.
The ''Crippled Lucifer'' compilation contains all but one song from their two LPs. The Goatsnake/Burning Witch split contains two songs, one from each of the LP recording sessions (and the one left off of ''Crippled Lucifer''), and the Asva/Burning Witch split contains the song "Rift. Canyon.Dreams." There is one known song, "Insignificant Other," that was never recorded.
A lot of terms have been used to describe Burning Witch's highly untraditional sound. Among these are "suicide doom", "transdimensional drone doom", "true blackened doom", and "molasses sludge". Stephen O'Malley has said these descriptions are "ridiculous", insisting Burning Witch is just slow and heavy doom with unique vocals. There is a natural progression in the sound of Burning Witch to the pair's later project Sunn O))), which borrows heavy influences from the band Earth.

Discography

★ ''Towers...'' 12" EP (Slap-a-Ham Records 1996)

★ ''Rift.Canyon.Dreams'' 12" EP (Merciless Records 1997)

★ ''Crippled Lucifer (Seven Psalms for Our Lord of Light)'' CD (Southern Lord Records 1998)

★ split CD with Goatsnake (Hydra Head Records 2000)

★ split 12" with Asva (Dos Fatales Records 2004)^[2]

References

1. http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:wpftxqekldje~T1
2. http://www.doom-metal.com/bandlist_entry.php?id=40

External links

★ Southern Lord Records biography of Burning Witch

★ Noise Magazine interview with Stephen O'Malley

★ All Music Guide entry for Burning Witch