Having released a promising demo and a well-received self-titled debut EP over the past few years after forming during the pandemic, Texas death-doom four piece VOID WITCH return to deliver their debut album Horripilating Presence on the phenomenally-named Everlasting Spew Records (who have also recently brought out killer records by NUCLEAR TOMB and FRACTAL GENERATOR). It proves to be a match made in hell as the band unleash a barrage of deathly goodness over a dark cloud of doom-laden sounds.
Mixing those classic old school death metal flavours (think early AUTOPSY and ENTOMBED) with creepingly slow and macabre but grooving doom (a la SAINT VITUS) means that the music of VOID WITCH is shrouded in all manner of darkness but there is also a more melodic but still heavy sound that creeps in as well resulting in an album that has plenty of welcome variety all the way through.
From the opening dirge of Grave Mistake to the omnipresent horror of the album’s title track that closes the record, and taking in all manner of vibes such as the creeping doom of Second Demon, the epic Malevolent Demiurge, the utterly menacing Supernova Of Brain And Bone and the haunting heaviness of Thousand-Eyed Stalactite in between, Horripilating Presence is an impressive debut salvo from VOID WITCH, and the album is a captivating listen with that foreboding atmosphere captured brilliantly throughout.
The levels of experience in heavy music from the members of VOID WITCH is both evident and important throughout Horripilating Presence. Those members have served time in bands such as AZOTH, SHITSTORM and DRAINBOW and this definitely shows as this is an assured and confident debut album and one that shows a deep level of passion and respect for death and doom metal, as well as the musicianship being consistently on point being an important factor as well. Ultimately, all manner of horror is evident sonically on this album, with the atmospheric nature of the band’s music leading the way. This is where the power of the music of VOID WITCH lies, and the way the death and doom influences, along with a macabrely triumphant vibe, complement each other works very well.
There is plenty of promise on Horripilating Presence; VOID WITCH definitely have a winning formula with their music and they have made an album that is packed full of songs which show off their death metal-inspired doom in particularly fine style and mark them out as a band whose trajectory is very much in the ascendance on this evidence. Hopefully there will be more to come in the future.
Rating: 7/10
Horripilating Presence is set for release on July 26th via Everlasting Spew Records.
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