After the few (and welcome) acoustic flourishes of last year’s Idag, I wasn’t sure what A Sinner’s Child would be for WITCHCRAFT or hold for my ears. As much as 2020’s Black Metal was mostly enjoyable, there were hints at a sonic claustrophobia that was also troubling, in the lack of dynamics from a band that – up to that point – had been known for infusing its music with both climactic highs and cathartic lows. Was Idag an attempt to cleanse the palate while still leaving the good memories of Black Metal lingering in our memory, and if so, was A Sinner’s Child to be a new beginning, a return to the days of the debut and Firewood, or something else altogether?
‘Drommen Om Död Och Förruttnelse’ begins, suspended chords hanging in the crackling air, a definite proto-metal vibe in play here, and I’m reminded of the tone on the lone and much-revered ICECROSS record of 1970. Pelander’s voice sounds a bit restrained here, wavering, but befitting the title ‘The Dream Of Death And Decay’. As sharp-toothed as the opener was, ‘A Sinner’s Child’ is contemplative, the guitar work recalling the pristine phrasings of JON BUTCHER; the album Wishes comes to mind, the Tannerdal / Kalla rhythm section simultaneously understated and vital. Exquisite, in a word, and one of recent WITCHCRAFT’s finer moments.
‘Even Darker Days’ continues the pensive, plaintive mood, MICHAEL YONKERS’ lysergic resignations referenced, elements of STEVE VON TILL’s solo work also given a sonic shoulder-brushing. Returning to heavier – if not more fast-paced – realms, ‘Själen Reser Dig’ is cavernous drum pounding, lurking, murky bass bombs, and Pelander’s exhausted, careworn half-mumbled delivery over guitar phrasings that pre-Messiah Marcolin CANDLEMASS would’ve killed for.
Drawing the winding sheet of this EP tight ‘round us with ‘Sinner’s Clear Confusion’, breathy baritone musings on loss of love and innocence colored in shades of the blues from which all rock and roll, much more so the doom-tinged is descended.
That the trio has managed to fit an album’s worth of emotion into 20-odd minutes speaks volumes. A Sinner’s Child, while it may not be what every fan expected or embraces, is a testament to WITCHCRAFT as a band that has – and will always – define itself by itself alone.
Review By: Lord Randall
WITCHCRAFT
A Sinner’s Child [EP]
Heavy Psych Sounds