ALBUM REVIEW: The Flight After The Fall – Witch Ripper
A scientist flees Earth with his sick wife in cryostasis, in desperate search of a cure. Prepared to go to the farthest reaches of the galaxy to save the love of his life, this is a tale of obsession, sorrow and hope, set in the deep black nothingness of the vastest fathomable expanse. A story as intense as this deserves an equally intense soundtrack, so enter WITCH RIPPER, who are using this as the premise behind their sophomore album The Flight After The Fall.
Chapter one of this intrepid journey goes by the name of Enter The Loop, and instantly sends us soaring through the atmosphere. Starting out as an atmospheric cloud of space-age synths, the track soon blasts off, building up the intensity with primal drumming and tremolo picking under wistful vocals. Breaking through the upper atmosphere, a more sinister riff roars to life before a hopeful, soaring chorus takes this into the domain of full blown rock opera. In under three minutes, WITCH RIPPER have adapted and evolved their approach four times over, and we’re not even halfway through the opening track.
Billing themselves as a melodic sludge band, the quartet push the boundaries of their own label and deliver far more than you may imagine. The press notes alone mention the likes of MASTODON, QUEEN and METALLICA; ordinarily you’d look at this list of luminaries as heady ambitions that are merely hinted at in the final product, but The Flight After The Fall stays true to its word and clearly exhibits characteristics of all of these – and more. From chord progressions that seem to have taken stage directions from The Black Parade and vocal delivery that has been shaped by Matt Heafy, to the grand prog stylings of DREAM THEATER and blistering solos that would make Ritchie Blackmore blush, this becomes less of a select ‘for fans of’ list, and more of an encyclopaedia of rock and metal through the ages.
The Obsidian Forge leans into WITCH RIPPER’s heaviest territories, consisting of blunt force chugging guitars and vocals that come from the bowels of a black hole. Icarus Equation follows as the signifier that the journey is coming to its end – our characters have survived their arduous trip, and so too have we. As the final victorious notes ring out, our flight to the edge of the cosmos in search of a continuation of the very thing we left behind in the first place seems to be reaching its conclusion.
It’s worth mentioning too that the production on The Flight After The Fall is simply sublime. With such a cold and bleak central subject, they’ve done a phenomenal job in making you feel like you’re lost in the depths of space, the crushing emptiness pressing in from every angle. But it also brings a real, oxymoronic warmth that reminds you that there is hope even in our darkest moments and most challenging tribulations. This is an album that wears its full heart on its sleeve.
The closing 16-minute epic Everlasting In Retrograde Parts 1 & 2 neatly collates everything that WITCH RIPPER do so well and takes its time to do so without ever overstaying its welcome. From wistful to brutal to soaring, via passages of raw emotion and infectious singalong choruses, there’s something for everyone here. The closing lyrics of “it takes every part of me” feel superbly relevant, because for the past 47 minutes, WITCH RIPPER put absolutely every ounce of themselves into The Flight After The Fall. A swirling labyrinth of genres and influence, this journey through the stars never loses its way even with the myriad detours it takes. A staggering piece of work.
Rating: 8/10
The Flight After The Fall is out now via Magnetic Eye Records.
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