ALBUM REVIEW: Vernal – Witching

Philadelphia’s WITCHING are quickly establishing themselves as a band to watch when it comes to sludge. The Pennsylvania based five piece made a solid impression with their debut, self-titled EP in 2018, gaining a small following off the back of their sound, which brings together thick, grove-laden guitars and visceral vocals with lighter, more sublime moments. Their first full length album, Vernal, expands on this brilliant blend of darkness and light, resulting in one of the more impressive sludge records of the year.

Witness is a powerful opening statement, with thick, jarring guitars, thunderous drums and feral, acerbic vocals helping to create a fierce and unflinchingly intense sound right out of the gate. Jumping between vast, expansive moments and more chaotic ones with ease, making for an eclectic and memorable start to the album. Roses launches into a dense and hazy motif, following the lengthy, drum orientated initial moments of the track, giving this song a slick, stoner edge that works incredibly well, with the music sound monstrous at points. The vocals, by contrast, range from haunting clean passages and far more frenzied howls, again providing an excellent mix of styles which only serves to make this song all the more engrossing.

Lividity sees the sound shift towards a much lighter, sublime one, with minimalist guitars and drums allowing the vocals to carry this song for a short while. The song quickly becomes a monolithic, bombastic piece of music with some brilliant, sludgy hooks and visceral, venom-soaked vocals, acting as an early album highlight. This Is What You Deserve takes the distortion to a new level, with buzzing bass lines and dirty guitars giving this solid, hard Rrock inflected track a lot of weight that makes it instantly immersive. It’s a short, punchy track that leaves a mark on the listener, and the album as a whole, despite being criminally brief.

False Martyr takes the music back down a softer route, with slow, dark guitar parts and subdued vocals making for a mesmerising sound that is the perfect complement to the vicious, primal bent of the song’s later stages. It’s a great track that incorporates all the elements of this bands sound that make them sound so great, both the more measure moments and the more cacophonous ones. The Pack is another fantastic offering, with some great riffs and authoritative drumming, which build a huge, meaty sound, with the coarse, acidic quality of the vocals adding to the songs charm, making for one of the heavier affairs on the album.

Vernal seamlessly picks up where the previous track left off, serving as another brief blast of noxious, energetic sludge with some subtle, epic elements peppered throughout, as well as some imaginative, borderline Heavy Metal harmonies, which give this a more polished and interesting sound, standing as one of the more catchy and impressive songs on the record. Eschaton ups the ante in terms of ferocity, with the music taking a much more savage, almost black metal sound, with a heady whirlwind of drums, bass and guitars crafting a much darker and focused sound, with rabid vocals injecting a magnificent exclamation point onto the rest of the music. It’s an amazing, groove-laden way to bring the album to a close, leaving the listener eager to hear more.

This is an incredibly good debut that shows a lots of promise for WITCHING and their future music. Unlike many sludge bands, who opt for a more aggressive and driven approach to the music, there’s plenty of excellent, lighter moments that not only broaden and vary the range of music on offer, but also add a great contrast between the darker and softer components of the bands sound. It’s a fantastic first effort by WITCHING, that lays down some very solid foundations for their sound, and if they continue producing music of this calibre, then they could establish themselves at the forefront of the sludge scene at large.

Rating: 8/10

Vernal is out now via self-release. 

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