Covenant

Gospel of the Witches is an interesting little project headed by Karyn Crisis, formerly of Crisis fame. Interesting because it’s a kind of goth/alt-metal outfit that’s not shit; quite the opposite in fact. Debut LP ‘Salem’s Wounds’ (2015) – which featured session performances from death metal royalty Ross Dolan and Rob Vigna – whilst a fine album, suffered from idea saturation. Karyn has a fine voice, both clean and distorted, but at times she seems unable to settle on a style or tone. Despite this it boasted some truly passionate moments that oozed spontaneity, rare in such overly stylised music.

So, how does this year’s follow up ‘Covenant’ stack up by contrast? Well, the charge of inconsistency has certainly been ironed out. This is a much more focused album of melodic goth metal, replete with simple but intuitive lead guitar melodies anchored by consistent yet diverse rhythms, imbued with more purpose than the debut. This is aided by a somewhat bottom heavy production, that favours the drums and rhythm guitars. They pose as more of a ‘presence’ than an actual musical foundation in the traditional rock sense of the word. All this serves Karyn’s purposes well. She wishes her music to be ritualistic, hypnotic, with her eerie voice soaring above off-kilter repeated refrains that build and fall in a way that may be frustrating to an ear accustomed to more orthodox metal/rock frameworks.

But this sits on those border lands between alt-rock, goth, metal, where so many that tread languish in mediocrity. Gospel of the Witches manage to carve a unique and satisfying experience in this risky territory, thanks to a very creative singer and some patient song writing. This is a mellow album that feels no need to overwhelm the listener with speed (slow or fast), rather it builds and falls with competing tensions that – when taken together – amount to a unified and curious experience.

This may be a more consistent album than ‘Salem’s Wounds’, but it has lost some of the sheer, primal despair that the debut exhibited. Sure it’s more focused, more mature if you like, but it takes less risks. For that reason there are fewer weak spots, but as a result the moments of undiluted music that bookended ‘Salem’s Wounds’ in ‘The Alchemist’ and ‘The Ascent’ are sadly absent. However, ‘Covenant’ is still a fine album. For those that enjoy there metal melodic and emotive in the vein of Paradise Lost and My Dying Bride, this offers a gentler variation on goth metal; complete with equal parts tasteful restraint and creativity.

Originally published at Hate Meditations