New release from WitcheR.
Proud of their latest EP released last year, Roland Nebauer (vocals/guitar/drums, Frozen Wreath, Vrag) and Karola Gere (keyboards/vocals, ex-Trollheimen) unveil their fourth album, Öröklét, via Filosofem Records and Beveria Productions.
Örökség begins by captivating us with dreamlike keyboards, then the riffs envelop us in turn, followed by more prominent drums before a short break that invokes Roland‘s dark vocals. We progress through this mesmerizing sonic fog with marked medieval influences that come in waves, then Szélhozó reveals itself with a soothing touch that will eventually be darkened by the haunting rhythm that gradually intensifies. The march stops for a moment, then resumes more lively, more ferocious, and more brutal as growls emerge from within it, further deepening the contrast between aggression and beauty, especially when Karola‘s backing vocals join the mix twice, then the sound returns once again to its initial tranquility on Röghöz kötött. The atmosphere remains fairly calm even when saturation envelops the whole, giving the orchestrations a much more massive feel but also a kind of immobility given the slowness of certain passages, while others take advantage of the double pedal to be more rapid, such as the final that leads to Öröklét, the eponymous composition. The approach remains fairly similar to previous compositions, also adopting the concept of fairly regular pauses to punctuate the progression, while once again calling on very soft female choirs to create a soaring vocal duet, but also drums that don’t hesitate to get carried away for moments of palpable fury. The album ends with an interpretation of Piano Trio No. 2 – Andante con moto, originally written by Austrian composer Franz Schubert, which nevertheless adopts a fairly simple but hazy guitar and some percussion to better integrate into the universe of the band, offering us one last moment of its magic before finally letting silence take over again.
WitcheR has always captured my imagination with its simple but extremely effective blend of keyboards and heavy Atmospheric Black Metal. Öröklét develops its own melancholy, and fans will undoubtedly be won over by its dark haze.
85/100
