Formed in 2015, this Scottish quartet released a remarkably assured EP the same year, and although the band’s set-up – fiery frontwoman surrounded by bearded male musicians – has become de rigueur in doom circles, this is grounds for celebration, not cynicism. Often in this music singing is a scrappy afterthought, overshadowed by the inevitable priority: riffs. This new generation of singers have raised the genre’s vocal bar, and with Laura Donnelly upfront, King Witch inch it higher. Sounding like she may have been kicked out of a 60s soul group for twatting the manager, Laura’s breathtaking husky pipes convey equal measures of wisdom, heartache, scorn and fury, though the music mostly contents itself with the latter; aside from the creepy-crawly true doom of Approaching The End and Ancients’ acoustic jangle, satisfyingly brute-force whirlwind tempos dominate.
King Witch - Under The Mountain album review
Supercharged doom with a vocal fireball up front
You can trust Louder Our experienced team has worked for some of the biggest brands in music. From testing headphones to reviewing albums, our experts aim to create reviews you can trust. Find out more about how we review.
More about metal hammer
“People are gone. Craig’s out. Chris is out, Joey’s out, Paul’s out. The band is different.” Slipknot’s Shawn ‘Clown’ Crahan admits the band aren’t as “close” now as they were 25 years ago
“There’s some screams on there. It’s cool that people appreciate it. It’s also a bit annoying.” Opeth’s Mikael Åkerfeldt is slightly irritated by all this talk about his growls
