From the depths of Hungary, here is Witcher.
Created in 2010 by Roland Neubauer (guitar/drums/vocals, Frozen Wreath, Vrag) and Karola Gere (keyboards), the band began with two demos before offering Néma gyász, its first EP, in 2012. In 2019, the band releases A gyertyák csonkig égnek, its second full-length. The first EP re-release by Filosofem Records is a good opportunity to focus on the band’s evolution.
Since its firsts releases, Witcher plays a dark, raw and majestic Atmospheric Black Metal. The alliance of keyboards with this melodic basis with plaintive tones allow the duo to captivate us and to lock us into their universe.
At the beginning, Néma Gyász was composed of four tracks. The remastered version offers a fifth one. Since the first song, Witcher plays its Black Metal with the heart, as well as ice cold rhythmics, on which piercing leads graft themselves, faraway howlings and quiet ambiences on keyboards. This coldness can be felt on both dissonance and those typical Black Metal howlings, as well as in the mix. The introduction makes us enter the universe, while Egyedül and Néma gyász immediately make us enter this icy tornado, this slow and stabbing march. Keresztúton, the bonus song, offers a different approach. If the theme is still the same, we feel that the Old School roots are completed by a more modern sound, enchanting melodies and more diversified vocal parts.
The observation is the same on A gyertyák csonkig égnek, the band’s last album. Four original tracks and a cover of the famous Swan Lake from the glorious russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Whether the original compositions stay on the same tones, we feel like the band matured, and it now offers majestic sonorities with a still dark and melancholic mix, as A gyertyák csonkig égnek, the eponymous song, shows us. The rhythmic seems to accompany keyboards, and not the opposite. About vocals, the evolution can be heard too. From gruntings to more worked vocals on Feloldozás, the song captivates us. Az én csendemben offers more epic tones that could easily be mistaken with a movie soundtrack, and Az utolsó utamon offers a slower and more haunting sight of this journey through darkness. In the end, A hattyúk tava Op. 20. 1. Jelenet, which is probably one of the most known parts of this ageless ballet, transports us. The transition from the majestic Opera to impressive Black Metal seemed to be obvious.
In ten years of career, Witcher grew up. With Néma Gyász, the band laid solid basis down anchored into Atmospheric Black Metal roots, upgraded with the remaster version. With A gyertyák csonkig égnek, Witcher proved its strength, magnified its melancholy and imposed a magnificent sound.
90/100