Witchsorrow : "The Devil And All His Works"

This is the 3rd album we have reviewed by this band, so it is unlikely there wil be any major surprises. On their last album, which had begun to move in a direction that combined the rumble of Electric Wizard with the grit of High on Fire. The opening track finds the moving into the more hypnotic side of this equation, which works for me, though with an eleven and a half minute song, there is room for fat to be trimmed. The fuzed-out stomp is deliberate and sounds great, but in terms of songwriting leans more into the sound than the song.  The longest song they save for the first, as the other songs hover around the six to eight minute mark. 

If you are really high and playing "Bacchus" at a high ear ringing volum it is more impressive. The vocals are more of an accent than a hook on the first two songs. They use more effects on this album, so it creates an interesting atmosphere, but dynamically, they tread similar ground. The guitar solos do create a more jammy feel, but there is always room to switch things up more, arrangement-wise.. The vocals build to more of a shout than the creepy acid thing they were doing earlier. At least more dynamics than we got from the previous song. "Hades Chains" finds the drummer waking up and building the tempo. Serena Cherry of Svalbard adds some roars to the occasion..This is where they begin to lean more in that High on Fire direction I mentioned earlier, but the vocals are sticking to what they do, which works better here.  This carries more of a sludge drive.

"Altar" carries a weighty throb. I like the approach of the vocals, but I feel they could come up in the mix. By falling back into the guitar, they feel more like an afterthought, but this song is darker and works more for me. It reminds me of Atriarch. 'In Triumphant We Rot" has a more traditional metal gallop, but the vocals are more Snake from Voivod, so it's almsot like Snake fronting old Iron Maiden."Lamentation" is more of an interlude and feels like the intro to the last song. The last song wallows more in diusmal doom, but is not as atmospheric or dynamic as I prefer. They rock out more on this album, and that works better for them. Overall, this album is an improvement over their previous work I will give it a 9. Dropping on Church Road Records. 

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