...and Silent Grief Shadows the Passing Moon

Below is a re-structuring of an old review I did for Witching Hour's eerie third album back in 2018.

Starting things with soulfully depressive clean guitar work that sets beautifully dark mood filled with ambience. The huge sounding lead work and drums soon join us to complete the instrumentals with a true melancholy that is incredibly heartfelt. Everything working perfectly in balance and unison to create a heartbreakingly warm vibrancy. We are then thrown into lurching riffs that are melodic and catchy with some really interesting timing choices that create an unnerving passage into more progressive musicianship. The gloriously more thrashy sections met with gruesome vocals have a really epic 80s feel and drive everything into the next phase of obliterating extreme metal that remains melodic and sombre but with added aggression. The grisly vocals add so much atmosphere to the piercingly intense grinding track and elevate it into new ground. This is some truly unique music that is just so stunningly atmospheric, sombre and yet will still assault you with its thrashy and primal energy. The songwriting is fantastic on its own but the brilliant performance allows it to be utilised to its full extent.

The fearsome speeds and yet enticingly warm tones create a balance that is absolutely immense, creating some truly impacting heavy metal with everything one could possible desire, or at least to my ear. Blistering songwriting, stunning performance and just sheerly glorious musicianship is ever-present on this album. The chilling vocals add so much darkness to the otherwise upbeat music giving it a wonderfully juxtaposing and fascinating style that to me was addictive from the albums onset. I truly feel absorbed in this record, more than usual, to me that is truly an amazing thing.

I am certainly curious and excited to see how the band finish off such a killer release. Setting in with bleak guitars, much like how the album began with a much more sombre feel, but also a vibe that it will be built into something huge. The furious vocals introduce more hectic drums, chaotically fantastic guitars and just more driven madness from the band. It is evident they want to go out in style with one last bout of frenzied extreme metal mania, which I respect. The melodies are beautifully contradictory to the hellish vocals and gruesome instrumentals, which sound so killer together. The organs were an awesome touch and the very last section once more brings totally emotive, soulful and tearfully beautiful clean guitars back for one last piece of melancholy.

This release contains a wide range of melodies with a biting aggression but also a bittersweet melancholy that is all in perfect balance with musicianship and songwriting to match. Absolutely brilliant album, a must listen for a total adventure into ancient blackened heavy metal!

Re-structured from my 2018 review on www.nattskog.wordpress.com