Witchrot - Hollow

Canadian doom/stoner/sludge metal group Witchrot released a new album earlier this month titled "Hollow". The best way I can describe their sound would be if Mazzy Star took a tab of acid and took a psychedelic trip to Hell and back, and met up with Type O Negative on the way. The first track, "Million Shattered Swords" starts off kinda soft and atmospheric with a really neat guitar line, but then picks up a couple minutes in and becomes a super badass fuzzy doom tune with fantastically haunting vocals. I'm definitely not used to hearing doom metal with female vocals, but I absolutely love it! The second track, "Colder Hands" starts off significantly faster than the first, and the vocals are a lot heavier. The guitar solo at the end of "Spiral Of Sorrow" is absolutely fantastic with the soft vocals in the background. In "Burn Me Down", we get another incredible performance from the singer, but the drummer definitely also shines. The drums are a lot more pronounced, and that's something I definitely thought was a nice touch. "I Know My Enemy" had almost a punk feel to it I thought, which is another really cool thing to make it stand out. The final track, "Hollow" has a completely different feel to it, it loses the drums and a lot of the fuzz, and it's just a guitar with vocals for most of the song, before they return towards the end. It's a very different song, but no less fantastic. This album is a full on experience. I didn't just listen to it, I felt it deep in my core, it told a story. Every track is different and unique. I love it so much. This is definitely one of the best releases of the year so far. I can't say enough good things about it. I highly recommend checking it out. ~Gangis

Image credit: Album cover for "Hollow" by Witchrot.