I can’t
believe it’s finally here, after all the drama revolving around Skeletonwitch at the end of
2014-beginning of 2015 with the unexpected departure of ex-vocalist Chance Garnette and a European tour
with ex-Cannabis Corpse vocalist Andy Horn, no one knew exactly what
happened to the Witch. After nearly
a year of silence the band announced they were releasing a new EP and that they
would be taking place in the 2016 Decibel
Magazine Tour alongside Abbath, High on Fire and Tribulation, but still the question was “who is doing vocals?”
Well, if you somehow missed the news Wolvhammer
vocalist Adam Clemans took over
vocal duties and FINALLY the band have released their first bit of new music.
Monday
night, Skeletonwitch debuted a new
song on Sirius XM’s Liquid Metal and if you missed it there then the good news
continues, they debuted a video for the new song titled “Well of Despair” and released it on Bandcamp with a limited edition
single art shirt (which is now sold out, i just went to buy one...). Now the
question on everyone’s mind, how is it still Witch without Chance,
trust me I had issues believing it was happening too, and how will it sound
compared to previous albums? Instrumentally, Witch is there. From beginning to
end, Nate and Scott’s riffs are as Witch
as it gets, the bass from Evan is
still as prominent and melodic as it was on “Serpents Unleashed” and the drums from Dustin will still make the earth shake. The vocals from Adam are a bit different from Chance’s obviously. While not trying to
be a clone and having his own technique Adam
made it his own while still adding in the grunts that the Witch fans know and
love. While not having quite the same range in vocal style, Adam is still an
amazing voice to have in Skeletonwitch
and I personally am very excited about seeing him front the band.
A
little more on the song, there are 4 general phases to this song the speedy melodic
Thrash Black Metal mix intro, the verse/chorus riffs that everyone knows and
loves from Skeletonwitch that makes
their music so distinguishable, a heavier riff just before the second chorus
that sounds like something ripped out of “Beyond
the Permafrost” that makes me excited to hear how much they mix the past
few albums into one. Finally, in the last minute you get the headbanger, the
section of the song where the pits will go mad, the headbangers will break
their necks and Adam takes his
vocals to probably the deepest and most Black Metal they get in this track. The
track is one of the longer songs Skeletonwitch
has released (still only about 4 minutes) but it keeps true to what the band
wants to do, get in, shred and get out and it does exactly that.
This is
only one song, I get it and trust me I was a huge fan of Chance and he will always be an idol of mine vocally, but here’s
the thing: Adam fits. It’s amazing
to me to see someone fit in so well without trying to be a clone. Skeletonwitch are back and whether you
like it or not, the band is as healthy as ever, this song proves it. Now I’m
off to convince them to stick “Released
from the Catacombs” into their setlist! Tour with Abbath starts on March 17th in Baltimore and if you don’t
believe me that the band are back, go get a ticket and see how energetic they
are live! Expect a review of the show when it gets here to Toronto and an
interview I will be conducting with them on site.
95/100
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