Album Review: All Them Witches, House of Mirrors
Resonant in its quiet moments, reveling in its heft and unquestionably grown up, House of Mirrors is the first All Them Witches album in six years, their first in 11 years not to be released through New West Records, their first since being rejoined by organist/violinist Allan Van Cleave in 2021, and their first since the 2024 departure of founding drummer Robby Staebler, whose sometimes-creepy visual art contributed to the development of the band’s aesthetic as being apart from the heavy rock norm.
So if you want storyline, there’s plenty to go around, and whatever angle you take, House of Mirrors sounds mature, explored, realized and able to wield its heft as an expression of dynamic, as the opening take on blues traditional “Red Rocking Chair” and “Culling Line” demonstrate, setting up a balance of chill and push that the 10-track/43-minute full-length fleshes out in various ways and a range of moods across its span. Bassist/vocalist Charles Michael Parks, Jr., guitarist Ben McLeod, Van Cleave on Fender Rhoads and other keys and drummer Christian Powers spent a decent portion of 2025 touring for a record that didn’t yet exist, at least in the public sphere, and this collection of songs — able to affect a loose groove while not losing sight of their path, also able to pull together a more urgent stretch like “Hold Up, Say What?” — feels in its tightness like it’s a part of that journey.
Maybe All Them Witches didn’t sit down and say, “let’s put together a bunch of shorter songs to play live,” but the way House of Mirrors ebbs and flows, the context that it was a tour before it was a record, and the unsurprising-but-still-welcome vitality of their performances all support the idea that they got there anyhow. There are no broad, nine-minute jams that unfold — “Red Rocking Chair” is the longest inclusion (also opener; immediate points) at 6:29 — yet songs like “Turn on the Light,” the cyclical hookmaker “Starting Line” and others here feel born of those jams, and the clarity of intention behind each track becomes both a strength and part of why I called the record “grown up” in the first sentence. As freewheeling as they’ve come across at points in their tenure, All Them Witches have never actually been sloppy, and in the acoustic foundation and ultra-bluesy buildup of “Aethernet,” the drumless melodic showcase “Go-Getter,” which ends side A with an emotionality that the closing pair of “The Welterweight” and “Saturn Song” will push further, their persona is intact perhaps most of all for being manifest in a way that it hasn’t been before.
That is to say, All Them Witches are a band who, now with seven full-lengths in their catalog, have never shown any desire to repeat themselves. House of Mirrors sounds conscious of its audience, and conscious of itself on a craft level, but while elements invariably carry over, it is no more a retread of what they’ve done before than anything they’ve done to this point. Part of that is the shift in chemistry for bringing in Powers, who acquits himself well in taking the place of a creative drummer with a distinct style that became an important part of the band’s ability to convey restlessness or motion amid wandering, often psychedelic passages.
The drums are suitably busy as the taut twists of “Hold Up, Say What?” straight out into the chorus, and the complement they give to the fuzzy guitar strut in “Angel on the Wayside” is able to enact a flow in a way that All Them Witches haven’t been able to do before, while “Turn on the Light” just before calls to mind the crunchier tone in the second half of “Bulls” from 2017’s Sleeping Through the War (review here), seeming to speak directly and knowingly to established fans while not retreading what they’ve already done.
Six years ago, Nothing as the Ideal (review here) harnessed the zen-ambitiousness of its title into a part-experimental take on what All Them Witches had done before. Is it so odd that they might be more reflective on House of Mirrors? In terms of texture, be it the organ in “Culling Line” or the dreamy line adding depth to the guitar in the penultimate “The Welterweight” and carrying the progressive melody of closer “Saturn Song” in the second half, having Van Cleave back makes them a stronger band, and longtime fans will revel in the spaces the band makes throughout House of Mirrors much as the band itself seems to do, be it the distorted twang of “Aethernet” or the longing in “Starting Line” — defined by its repeated title line “Back to the starting line” over a quick buildup and turnaround — or the quiet breadth of “Go-Getter,” which sounds like it was made to be heard alone in the middle of the night. The comparatively speedy “Hold Up, Say What?” just before is a head-spinner, but it’s telling for where All Them Witches are as a band that the crescendoes on House of Mirrors are less about volume than emotion.
And of course, Parks‘ vocals in conveying that, wistful, sometimes mumbled obscure tales or aphorisms — the wise chew syllables; only fools enunciate — are essential to that, if not the only factor as the shimmering leads from McLeod remind throughout “The Welterweight” and “Saturn Song,” becoming a hook of their own in the latter, which sounds no less stage-ready for the expressiveness with which it’s delivered or the clarity it maintains. I’ve never thought of All Them Witches as being overly Beatles-inspired — especially for a band who recorded their last LP at Abbey Road — but something about the self-awareness-of-an-ending at the finish of “Saturn Song” speaks to that anyhow, even if the melody and structure are All Them Witches‘ own, as is the entirety that precedes. Because they’re among the foremost US heavy rock acts of their generation, just about anything they put out is going to carry some air of an event. Fair enough, particularly after six years. While it balances the fresh and familiar, House of Mirrors reaffirms the band’s place and singular style, making for both a welcome return and an offering that still looks forward more than it looks back. It’s very All Them Witches in that way, and there aren’t many higher compliments I could give.
One of my absolute favourite bands ever. Big statement but true nonetheless. Been so looking forward to this record since hearing the snippets and, if I remember correctly, one loose version of a track on their last show with Elder in Glasgow. Haven’t listened to the new one yet, waiting until returning from holiday to listen to it on the turntable and absolutely gutted to be missing the Edinburgh gig also due to being away on holiday. I’m sure it’ll be as excellent as every other time I’ve seen them though