Witch

Paralyzed****

Tee Pee Records

By: Rinjo Njori

Has Queens of the Stone Age become too alternative even for you? Do you feel the Desert scene has been hijacked by the southern fried leanings of Super Heavy Goat Ass? The latest from Dead Meadow more boring than you expected? Or just realistic enough to realize your closer to liking Brian Wilson's Smile than Boris' new record of the same name? Where can the average "alterna-kid" looking to indulge his inner metal head these days? The answer is Witch.

Childhood friends J Mascis and Kyle Thomas indulged their inner Dave Grohl and formed Witch in 2005. To "up the metal credibility quotient" they recruited avant folk scenesters Asa Irons and Dave Sweetapple from Feathers. The result was traditional Sabbath with their own blend of QOTSA/Dead Meadow style stoner rock. Sure they probably didn't appeal to the Southern Lord Army and got dismissed by the fans in and around the Palm Desert scene, but these New England boys put out a fantastic genre album that no one could have seen coming. After all wasn't Mascis a dinosaur and who were those other guys?

Paralyzed arrives in 2008 with a lot more expectations. Did they go all Sunn ))))OOOO and go the "3 minute per note" route flushed with feedback? Do they jump back to into more familiar territory with a retreat to alternative rock? Luckily Paralyzed finds some creative middle ground. Building on the successes (see "Isadora" and "Hand of Glory) on "Old Trap Line", trying out some "NWOBHM"-style metal with "Eye", or finding a happy medium between the Replacements and early Nirvana on "Disappear". More importantly they shorten the running time and tack on two extra tracks.

"Eye" kick starts the momentum on Paralyzed. Dave Sweetapple might not be Steve Harris. Kyle Thomas and Asa Irons are technically (literally) not in the same league with Dave Murray and Adrian Smith. J Mascis resembles Clive Burr on his worst day. Still, this under produced, pulse pounding song can't help but draw from Number of the Beast­-era Iron Maiden. The bass lines are quick and clean, the guitars neatly layered together, and some primal drums make this song too short for it's own good. "Space God" uses similar guitar riffs but fills out the sound at a slower pace without ceding the intricacies of Nebula or earlier efforts by Dead Meadow. "1000 MPH" immediately recalls "100 Degrees" from Kyuss Welcome to Sky Valley. This might not be fair comparison, but the songs are similar in title and feel.

Though never reaching the intensity of the Kyuss classic, Witch is able to find their groove. Sweetapple's bass fits nicely with Mascis' give and take drums. Asa Irons kicks it into overdrive with a crisp solo. The nasal vocal delivery of Kyle Thomas still remains closer to Dead Meadow's David Simon and is essentially light years, or a million miles, from Jon Garcia. "Gone", "Sweet Sue", and "Old Trap Line" bridge Witch's sound from their self titled release to their sophomore effort. Yet there is less effort on the bottom end and each note doesn't have to go as far as it did on their debut. "Disappear" might be the only track that feels out of place. Lacking the heaviness and the bite of metal it feels like a strange marriage between Bleach-era Nirvana and pre-Let It Be Replacements. The track also serves as an unintentional conduit between the more 80s leaning metal songs that fill out the front end of the album, than the more firmly grounded 70s styled songs that close out Paralyzed. About the closest Witch come to a misstep is "Sweet Sue" which on the wrong day could easily sound like a ballad. Witch has established that at the least they are not a ballad band. The band has wisely dispatched with the overt nods to mystical imagery. "Seer" and "Soul on Fire" from their debut might be replaced with the equally bizarre but more accessible "Eye" and "Space God", but the feel of the band no longer relies heavily on it's association with all that is heavy and gloomy. Even if the George A. Romero inspired album cover art does it's best to dispel that notion.

Mascis, Thomas, Sweetapple and Irons don't reinvent the wheel on their sophomore outing with Witch. Like most other artists they successfully build on the strengths of their previous effort. Nor do they take for granted that this isn't their day job. "Eye" and "Dissappear", most notably, might pull heavily from influences that were discarded on purpose the first time around. Everyone knows Maiden, The Mats, and Nirvana. Creatively it made sense to reintroduce Sabbath and all the good things that most people missed when Queens of the Stone Age broke in the late 90s. They are also not foolish enough to think that they have fully explored their heavy side by sticking with that formula. Paralyzed quickly establishes a nice middle ground for those who are way past Era Vulgaris but not quite ready to smile with the wacky Boris.

Labels: Witch