https://www.high-endrolex.com/18

Swamp Witch Premiere “Slither into the Circle” from The Slithering Bog LP

Posted in audiObelisk on July 25th, 2016 by JJ Koczan

swamp witch

The forthcoming LP edition of Swamp Witch‘s The Slithering Bog — out soon on Tribunal of the Axe — isn’t technically a reissue. Though the Californian death-doom outfit’s second full-length was released on cassette in 2015 via Transylvanian Tapes, the new version, mastered for vinyl and encompassing in its atmospheric density such that it makes even the air it fills seem heavier, is the first on a vinyl format. Built of two songs on its first side and four on its second, it’s a record that revels in the seemingly wretched. Cave-echo growls, lumbering riffs, and fervent plod are conjured with a depth of low end that feels sludged in its roots, but has turned to something even more rotten and vicious and crawling, and as the rolling “Strange Cults” leads the way into the trenches that follow, it is the utter hopelessness of the thing that stands out most. It’s like that part of the sea where the fish had to evolve their own light because the sun couldn’t get down that far.

Currently comprised of vocalist James, guitarist Ben, bassist Jacob and drummer Phil, Swamp Witch recorded The Slithering Bog two years ago in July 2014. They made their debut with Gnosis in 2011, but the second album, as it should, expands intensely on the first, digging into more of a classic death-doom style, as heard in the mournful guitar swamp-witch-the-slithering-bogof “Marsh of Delusion,” or the depressive buzz that emerges as “Slither into the Circle” leads off side B. The play from side A to B in the vinyl — moving from longer tracks to shorter ones — isn’t to be ignored, as it signals intent on the part of Swamp Witch essentially to overwhelm their listenership as much as possible at the outset and then move outward stylistically from there. To wit, the snare work on “Slither into the Circle” adds a subtle bounce cutting through all the decay and crash surrounding, and though it cuts the pace seemingly in half (actual percentages unknown), the subsequent “Bayou Tomb” lurches out some of the hugest and most engrossing tones The Slithering Bog has to offer, not necessarily moving away from the other material atmospherically, but expanding the context of the release overall and adding a sense of dynamic to the consistent, obscure ambience.

That context is pretty much set by the time Swamp Witch get down to the closing duo of “Dead Root” and “Lost Symbols,” but especially the latter continues to add layers of personality to The Slithering Bog through some post-Aldebaran or even earlier Novembers Doom-style guitar melody, not quite as emotionally wrought as the latter, and still a good deal rawer in overall approach, but potentially on a like-minded sonic path, though I’m not sure I’d trade the utter brutality of low-end they bring to bear across The Slithering Bog in favor of existential woes — it would obviously depend on how their songwriting continues to develop and the lineup takes shape and/or continues to discover its chemistry. In any case, Swamp Witch‘s second LP carries with it a tome-style impression and so feels worthy of the vinyl treatment it has received. No doubt its plunge will be too deep for many to take, but that’s precisely the intent, and The Slithering Bog lives up to it with artistry and without compromise.

The decaying sounds of The Slithering Bog were captured during July 2014 at Earhammer Studios in Oakland, California by Greg Wilkinson (Brainoil, Annihilation Time, Noothgrush, et al) and mastered at Trakworx in San Francisco by Justin Weiss (Ludicra, Slough Feg, Cormorant, et al). Initially released on cassette last year via Transylvanian Tapes, the collection of nightmare rituals that made this release so necessary and bizarre has finally oozed its way onto vinyl on three color variants (black, purple haze and swamp green) thanks to Tribunal Of The Axe Records who will unleash the offering later this month.

The Slithering Bog Track Listing:
Side A:
1. Strange Cults
2. Marsh Of Delusion
Side B:
1. Slither Into The Circle
2. Bayou Tomb
3. Dead Root
4. Lost Symbols

Swamp Witch on Thee Facebooks

Preorder at Tribunal of the Axe

Tribunal of the Axe on Thee Facebooks

Tags: , , , ,

Swamp Witch to Release The Slithering Bog Vinyl

Posted in Whathaveyou on July 14th, 2016 by JJ Koczan

swamp witch (Photo by EM Ramirez)-700

Lurkers of the world — unite! Californian doomers Swamp Witch celebrate the bleak and the misanthropic on their 2015 sophomore outing, The Slithering Bog, and as it happens that very same album has been confirmed for a vinyl release through Tribunal of the Axe later this month. It was originally issued on cassette by Transylvanian Tapes, but this will be the first LP edition and there are three colors. It’s been two years since the album was first recorded in San Francisco, so where the band might be on a follow-up could go either way, but for those who can’t get enough of that crawling feeling with their heavy, Swamp Witch should make you feel right at home, as much as anything ever does.

Preorders available now. To wit:

swamp witch the slithering bog-700

SWAMP WITCH: Punishing Doom Practitioners To Release The Slithering Bog Via Tribunal Of The Axe

SWAMP WITCH is the culmination of psychedelic substances, occult practices, and a collective interest in dark, strange, and ultimately hallucinogenic music originally devised with the sole intent to commit and record ritualistic extremities through heavy music only for the night of 9/9/09. In the aftermath, members found themselves pressed to continue the slow-burning drudgery sparked on that September ninth into the months that followed, leading to shows, recordings, band members towing themselves out of the smog from Central Valley, California and into Oakland (and Arcata, respectively) and finally, the vinyl release that recollects the original material of that evening: Gnosis.

The punishing, murky layers protruding from 2011’s Gnosis recordings drip with the trance-laden, drug-induced efforts of ’70s psychedelia compressed into the claustrophobic toil and painful repetition of ’90s sludge. This concept of Gnosis actually seems more akin to H. P. Lovecraft’s ideas of psychosis and derealization as the only thing the feeble human mind can experience when confronting truth (cosmicism), as opposed to gnosis in the classic, transcendental sense of the term. In other words, it’s fucked up.

While Gnosis was being released on cassette, and finally, vinyl, SWAMP WITCH had already begun preparing material for what was to become the six claustrophobic tracks that make up The Slithering Bog. To help achieve this, former drummer Dirk V took up second guitar duties and helped further emphasize the psychedelic undertones heard in Gnosis, while collaborator Adam T. took on drums. The end result of almost two years of writing proved worthy, as warped landscapes and fungal textures resting somewhere between dream-like and sleep paralysis culminated into The Slithering Bog recording of late 2014.

The decaying sounds of The Slithering Bog were captured during July 2014 at Earhammer Studios in Oakland, California by Greg Wilkinson (Brainoil, Annihilation Time, Noothgrush, et al) and mastered at Trakworx in San Francisco by Justin Weiss (Ludicra, Slough Feg, Cormorant, et al). Initially released on cassette last year via Transylvanian Tapes, the collection of nightmare rituals that made this release so necessary and bizarre has finally oozed its way onto vinyl on three color variants (black, purple haze and swamp green) thanks to Tribunal Of The Axe Records who will unleash the offering later this month.

For preorders visit THIS LOCATION.

The Slithering Bog Track Listing:
Side A:
1. Strange Cults
2. Marsh Of Delusion
Side B:
1. Slither Into The Circle
2. Bayou Tomb
3. Dead Root
4. Lost Symbols

http://www.facebook.com/CosmicSludge
http://www.transylvaniantapes.bandcamp.com/
http://www.tribunaloftheaxe.com
http://www.facebook.com/tribunaloftheaxe

Swamp Witch, “Strange Cults”

Tags: , , , , ,