Filed under: Album Reviews
Release Date: Out now.
Record Label: Self-Release.
Occult-tinged metal occupies a unique space in heavy-sounding rock. Unlike many of its neighbouring offshoots, occult-metal (aka. doom) has no interest in overblown pyrotechnics or 10-minute guitar solos: fuzz-shrouded lurches will do.
Zombie King, as the name suggests, sits comfortably alongside Candlemass and Electric Wizard – albeit at the other end of shelf – however, as fans of this genre know all too well; doom metal’s hall-of-famers have spawned countless imitators, but few innovators.
Son of a Witch is intent on breaking the mould. The French quartet’s debut shares many similarities with the genre’s elite: hammer-horror imagery; a penchant for evil and desperate vocals; but this is where the similarities end. Firstly, neither of the aforementioned bands, has ever had a shrieking banshee as a vocalist; or an infectious love of fast-paced, wah-wah grooves, either. Without dissecting Zombie King’s sound too much, it is, to coin a phrase: “cosmic-doom”- neither, bleak or barren, but still heavy enough to smoke to.
