Burning Witch

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Burning Witch
Background information
Origin Seattle, Washington
Genre(s) Doom metal
Stoner metal
Years active 1995 - 1998
Label(s) Southern Lord Records
Hydra Head Records
Merciless Records
Slap-a-Ham Records
Associated
acts		 Thorr's Hammer
Goatsnake
Sunn O)))
Teeth of Lions Rule the Divine
Asva

Burning Witch was an American doom metal band from Seattle, Washington in the mid to late 1990s. Members of the band were Edgy 59 (vocals), Stephen O'Malley (guitar), G. Stuart Dahlquist (bass), and Jamie Sykes (drums) who was later replaced by B.R.A.D.

Contents

[edit] History

After the demise of the doomdeath band Thorr's Hammer in 1995, bandmates O'Malley, Sykes, and Greg Anderson teamed up with Dahlquist to create Burning Witch. Anderson soon left (starting Goatsnake), and Edgy 59 was added, finalizing the lineup.

The Steve Albini-recorded Towers... LP was released in 1996, followed by the departure of Sykes and his replacement by B.R.A.D. for the Rift. Canyon.Dreams LP. Crippled Lucifer, a compilation CD of the two LPs, was released soon after on Southern Lord Records. Burning Witch performed their last shows in the fall of 1998 after which Edgy 59 left for Sinisstar, O'Malley and Dahlquist reunited with Anderson to form Sunn O))), and Dahlquist joined Anderson in Goatsnake. Currently, O'Malley is in various projects including Sunn O))) and Dahlquist and B.R.A.D are in Asva.

[edit] Music

Most of the music of Burning Witch is very slow and heavy with the drums slowly plodding along with the bass and guitar playing minimalist riffs. Emphasis usually put on spaces between notes, allowing the bass and guitar to resonate before proceeding to the next note. There are occasional bursts of feedback and noise from O'Malley which can be argued to be solos, but for the most part the guitar and bass follow each other.

One of the unique qualities of Burning Witch is Edgy 59's vocals which alter between a nasal and melodic singing voice to a brutal, tortured, and demented scream/shriek. All songs feature the scream/shriek, while some alternate between the scream/shriek and the singing. Not surprisingly, the vocals in Burning Witch do sound like they are coming from a witch that is burning at the stake.

There are noticeable differences between the songs on Towers... and Rift. Canyon.Dreams with Towers... being more intense and aggressive and Rift. Canyon.Dreams being more morose and brooding. However, the albums are not radical departures from each other.

The Crippled Lucifer compilation contains all but one song from their two LPs. The Goatsnake/Burning Witch split contains two songs, one from each of the LP recording sessions (and the one left off of Crippled Lucifer), and the Asva/Burning Witch split contains the song "Rift. Canyon.Dreams." There is one known song, "Insignificant Other," that was never recorded.

A lot of terms have been used to describe Burning Witch's highly untraditional sound. Among these are "suicide doom", "transdimensional drone doom", "true blackened doom", and "molasses sludge". Stephen O'Malley has said these descriptions are "ridiculous", insisting Burning Witch is just slow and heavy doom with unique vocals.

[edit] Discography

[edit] External links

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