Some bands try to ape the sound of the past. The best retro-looking acts, like Witchcraft and the Sword, sound like they've come from the past. This five-track split album showcases two heavily hyped metal acts, who succeed at different levels.
The Sword's debut, Age of Winters, arrived with tons of hype in early 2006. That, in turn, meant the band got caught up in the thankfully short-lived "hipster" metal scene. Those hipsters have gone back to their Minus Iron & Wine CDs, and leaving the rest of us to enjoy our music with nary an ironic smirk. The band opens proceedings with a nice bit of epic sludge, Sea of Spears, which features the band's hallmarks -- heavy bottom, nifty guitar work and vague fantasy lyrics. The mood is ruined somewhat by a cover of Led Zeppelin's "The Immigrant Song." It's not a horrible cover, but Zeppelin is a band no one should cover. (That includes, in my mind, the group that played earlier this week in London. Bonzo is dead people. So is this band. Could we just deal with it?)
Witchcraft present a similar grab bag of tunes -- a new work and some previously unissued recordings, but the vibe works much better than the Sword side. Maybe it's the extra space and time, which gives the slow-moving band a chance to develop not only each song, but the entire vibe of the record. Witchcraft doesn't sound exactly like Black Sabbath or Pentagram or Blue Cheer or any other heavy act from about 1969 you can name. Instead, they sound like they were in the studio next door, sharing the vibe (and certainly some herbs as well) and making recordings that didn't surface until now. Even more amazing is that the band is from Sweden, a country where the metal/punk scene has long been dominated by melodic death metalers and crusty d-beat punkers.
All of this comes packaged with a gorgeous Vance Kelly cover and heavy-duty purple vinyl. Don't pass it up if you find one of the rare copies of this release. (www.kemado.com)
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