When a band’s PR one-sheet compares any band to MASTODON, DAVID BOWIE and COHEED AND CAMBRIA not only in the same paragraph, but the same damn sentence, ya just gotta wonder what kind of fever dream or ayahuasca trip was being recovered from here. You know the bands themselves don’t write these, and – while you trust this particular source – you kinda hope for the best. WITCH RIPPER’s been at it awhile now, and Through The Hourglass it it’s third, so it’s riding on the back of two solid releases, so the chances of the ball being completely dropped are few. Armed with this knowledge…

‘Odyssey In Retrograde’ does exactly what an intro track should but so often doesn’t do, in setting up the first true song, be it musically, or in the sense of anticipation. ‘The Portal’ is heavy-handed but not ham-handed, proto-doom, yet basted lightly with prog. Think OCTOPLOID or LUNA’S CALL, but more subdued. This is WITCH RIPPER at their most polished thus far, blooming and flourishing, a garden of vocal harmonies. Shrouded in layer upon layer of riffing, flowing easily but without sacrificing the heft – musical or emotional – that must come along with music such as this, ‘Symmetry Of The Hourglass’ is a tour de force of modern metallic styles blended tastefully, moments of BORKNAGAR’s cleaner material even referenced within its 7+ minutes.

‘Echoes And Dust’ begins with one of the few classic Seattle elements you’ll find in WITCH RIPPER’s output this time around in the slow yet purposeful opening moments. I found myself at first bothered that the theme didn’t return, but when it finally circled back at the end, the payoff was worth the pain. A band as immensely talented as this has a special problem in that the techniques at its members’ disposal run the risk of doing detriment to the memorability or “songness” of its art. And if ya can’t hum it later, chances are, it won’t stick around for long. ‘The Clock Queen’, however, shows that the quartet has planned for this, and thus, we’re entranced by the intricacies of the beauty on display without it seeming ostentatious or preening dandyism.

Concluding with ‘The Spiral Eye’, WITCH RIPPER manages to wander through all the lands visited in the 35 or so minutes preceding its arrival, yet never loses its way, or leaves one feeling there are moments wasted in the journey. Through The Hourglass is the album where we see the Washingtonians move out from the shadows of past influences, with one eye cast from whence they came, and one to the horizon.
Review By: Lord Randall

WITCH RIPPER
Through The Hourglass
Magnetic Eye Records