The Church Within records never fail to unearth the most promising of acts, although quite how the label manage to be quite so unerringly successful is surely nothing short of sorcery. The label’s latest success is Norwegian act Purple Hill Witch who sound like a cross between Black Sabbath, Hawkwind, Sleep and Angel Witch, with their taut stoner grooves caught between a love of mind-expanding psychedelia on one side and the fervent desire to rock out on the other. The band’s first full-length release with only a 7” to their name thus far, what is most impressive about this self-titled debut is how assured the band sound as they embark on a forty-odd minute trip that veers wildly between FX-laden Sabbath Bloody Sabbath-isms and richly textured psychedelic wig outs. It sounds awesome, thanks to a clear and uncluttered production with this reviewer’s only complaint being that music like this really should be on a weighty slab of obsidian vinyl rather than produced from the sterile confines of the humble CD.
Opening track ‘queen of the hill’ enjoys the luxury of unwinding over seven minutes, the band bravely shifting between wide-eyed jams and bouts of furious riffing as Oyvind lays down a tumultuous backdrop on the drums underneath it all. ‘Astral Booze’ is a shorter trip that is so hypnotic as to have a similar effect to its titular product, the woozy riffs leaving the listener confused and disorientated. ‘Final procession’ sees bassist Andreas aping Cliff Burton before Kristian kicks out a gloriously debauched riff that hauls the song along, white faced and stuttering, for seven minutes, but the end of which the listener will be suffering from a contact high. ‘Karmanjaka’ has the feeling of a spontaneous jam, the lugubrious pace and dizzy soloing recalling the sonic explorations of Earthless, whose ‘live at Roadburn’ double CD still remains a near peerless example of the genre.
Another epic piece of bewitching doom, ‘the landing’ is a seven minute trawl that benefits from being turned up LOUD so that you can enjoy every nuance of Kristian’s wah-inflected guitar performance and distorted vocals. It’s tar-thick and slow moving as hell, but the lack of forward momentum gives the music a devastating weight, rolling slowly over the opposition with ominous inevitability. ‘Aldebaranian voyage (into the sun)’ is a mere four minutes and plays like the album’s single with its fierce groove and restrained approach, only for the title track to swirl around the listener for eleven, high-inducing minutes. It’s the perfect summation of the album: lengthy, spontaneous and laden with portent, and it marks Purple Hill Witch out very clearly as a band who must surely be considered essential by any close followers of doom.
With their self-titled debut, Purple Hill Witch have crafted an album of memorable, psychedelically tinged tracks that have a potent atmosphere that is all their own. For fans of bands like Sleep and Reverend Bizarre, this is essential listening; for those wishing to try their hand at doom, this packs a fearsome enough groove to be an excellent starting point. However you look at it, this is a phenomenal debut and well worth checking out.
