Andrew DuncanDead Witches
The Final Exorcism
Dead Psych Sounds
★★★
Deep in the dredges amongst the cold, dank caverns of horror-laced doom metal lies Dead Witches’ ritualistic swears. The Final Exorcism will haunt your dreams. These riffs are heavy, man. There is so much pedal fueling the power chords that their rhythms will have you running through cemeteries, searching for a way out of the grave.
When you come face to face with the title track, the song barely has a pulse. Newcomer Soozi Chameleon is a cross between Donita Sparks and Bliss Blood. She howls her occult-laden lyrics that sit in destitution. “Fear the priest,” she wails on the song with the same name. Sometimes with eyes rolled back and other times shrapnel-toned and angry, her doom rock mass is for the congregation of the damned. We as voyeurs can only gaze in fear. Adding Chameleon to the band was an essential choice. Her voice is the icing on this hollowed-out cake. She creates an otherworldly effect that compliments Oliver Irongiant’s guitar.
Dead Witches – Fear The Priest
Irongiant is also a newcomer to the band. As he lays down solid Sabbath-like riffage on songs like “The Church By The Sea,” the power lies in the levels as you sink deeper into his hypnotic wah-wah chord gaze. Mark Greening and Carl Geary add the foundation that is pure tribal death marches as powerful as any early Rollins band audio beef.
What they want you to do is succumb to their ways. The Final Exorcism is not an easy listen. The album is torture with delight to the way they can appease horror punks and doom metallers alike.
From the album cover art to the ritualistic presence, Dead Witches play the role to a tee and Greening being the visionary of the band can only be proud of how this album exists as much an art statement as it is a part of the metal contingent.