ninehertz

This is, as you can probably predict, familiar stoner/doom, with reference points and tropes present and correct. Yet it is done so well and with a clear drive to create even just an inch of individuality within these tightly packed genre norms that it is a worthy listen, raising more than a few smiles.

Burnt Witch are from Tennessee and Dopelich is their impressive debut. The title track sets the scene that you half-expected having seen the artwork, with its fuzzy, occult doom guitar tone, but then the vocals diverge from what you might imagine, sung in a stoner rock manner rather than, say, a sludge approach you might have imagined. It’s a good start.

As is often the case, the shadow of Electric Wizard is cast wide and shrouds the remaining three songs. On the final track, which part references Witchcult Today and whose titular numeration echoes Torquemada ‘71 when sung, is a little too burdened by its subservience to the Dorset lords. Yet on Bastard they only use it as a starting point to create something subtly different and their own.

This leaves Glass Eye, a song about the Helena Bonham Carter character in Tim Burton’s Big Fish. The bluesy doom guitars sets it in Dopethrone territory early on, but the arrival of the vocals tips the balance more towards stoner rock in a nice way before its hits a great doomy groove two thirds through, the subtle change ups across its ten minutes vital and fun.

Yeah, there’s not much new here and your first impressions will serve you well, but there’s a fair skill at play which brings with it some excellent stoner/doom at times, worthy of your time.