Origin: Szombathely, Hungary 🇭🇺
Genre: Atmospheric Black Metal
Over the past few years, I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know the music of Roland Neubauer, Karola Gere and WitcheR – a classically inspired atmospheric black metal project out of Hungary whose music shimmers with the glow of classicism and the warmth of a comfortable kind of sorrow as opposed to the frigid brutality and sonic warmongering of their Scandinavian counterparts. Each one of their recordings a deep and immersive experience with lyrical excursions into the realms of loss, grief, change and renewal.
These beautiful recordings harken not back to the birth of the genre, but some other time further in the past before the degeneration of humanity; a time when integrity, family and conviction all stood paramount. WitcheR’s music is a literal escape from this onset to apocalypse we call now, and their latest album, “Lélekharang” promises to not only see you off on a journey through time, but also fill your every void with the sweetest yearning.
Compared to the slightly rawer sound of their previous album, “A gyertyák csonkig égnek”, which was a work of sheer beauty in and of itself, “Lélekharang” rings in crisp and fulfilling tones that breath vitality into yet another heartwarming experience. All phases resonating into each track’s enchanting atmosphere with a new kind of clarity – a perfect balance in production/mixing that’s yielded a pristine, but still unsanitized record. Karola’s keyboard parts in the titular track – like a Heathen’s frosty blade slicing through warm flesh – cut through the mix authoritatively and with more purpose this time. And the following track “Csendesen” unfolds urgently into an even richer tapestry constructed of mystifying progressions and enriching atmospheric elements – a paradoxical spell cast in rue of its own title, which translates to “Quietly”…
Before the final curtain is drawn with a captivating rendition of Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata”, you’ll find yourself at the will of the hypnotic “Hazatérés” where the gentle rise and fall of every ethereal keyboard part, every rolling guitar riff and every rumbling double-bass current carry you – as if floating – through what is the finest example of pure black metal perfection this volume has to offer. Soulful, ascendant and radiating a unique kind of energy not akin to orthodox black metal, with “Lélekharang, heights anew, and as far as I’m concerned, untouchable have been reached. There aren’t many ABM bands who are doing it better or with as much heart & soul as WitcheR. There’s simply an air of class and wisdom that resonates through each track on “Lelekharang”; two characteristics that – when combined – produce flawless black metal LP’s…
10/10
Experience the titular track to “Lélekharang” right here as presented by Black Metal Promotion:
~Jeger
