WITCH - s/t LP (colour vinyl)

Limited edition gold colour vinyl.

Dinosaur Jr.'s J Mascis gets behind the drum kit for this metal record, a collaboration with two members of Vermont octet and Devendra Banhart cohorts Feathers.

Spanning the psych-metal/folk divide, two of Witch's members also play in the airy Vermont octet Feathers, perhaps known best as the backup crew on Devendra Banhart's anti-war song, "Heard Somebody Say" (although their pleasant forthcoming full-length on Gnomonsong should change that). Here, singer/guitarist Kyle Thomas and guitarist Asa Irons follow the footsteps of folk-rock genre-hoppers like Six Organs of Admittance's Ben Chasny, ably increasing the volume and peeling the tie-dye from the walls.

Fans of the legendary SST doom-metal band Saint Vitus will likely find this stuff to be fun, if hardly original. Just don't confuse them with Swedish Pentagram lovers Witchcraft. Actually, okay, confuse them if you want: There are plenty of similarities in the rollicking instrumentation and occult lyricism. The 1970s-style metal cross-referencing would make for a smoking double bill, but Witch inhales more Zeppelin with its Sabbath. Also, Witch's Thomas sounds nothing like Witchcraft vocalist/guitarist Magnus Pelander; instead, he warbles like Jason Simon of Dead Meadow or, oddly enough, the Apples in Stereo's Robert Schneider.

But whatever the proper analogue or crib sheet-- and regardless of the starpower Mascis brings to the proceedings-- the Feathers boys are the stars of Witch: The album's best moments result from the torrid dual guitar solos, the well-textured feedback, and how the heavy atmosphere contrasts with Thomas' sweetly nasal howl. And that howl is fantastic, especially when Witch aims for epic extrapolations as on the mountainous "Black Saint". - Pitchfork