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Released on July 6, 2015 via Independent
Wiht are back! And how! They storm back into existence with the release of a mammoth 17 minutes long track ‘Edgar the Atheling’, which is perhaps one of the most accomplished pieces of work they’ve released to date. But more to that later, because I’m sure there are a few folk out there scratching their heads as to what this excitement is all about.
Wiht are a psychedelic stoner/doom three piece from Leeds and after they released their full-length The Harrowing of the North back in 2011, they shortly after called it quits. Devouter Records re-released this album, including a bonus track, on shiny clear vinyl in February 2013, a good time after the band’s disbanding. So they basically just missed the huge doom/heavy music revival in the UK, which roughly started around this time. So, I don’t blame anyone for not knowing The Harrowing of the North, but if you really haven’t listened to this album before then I recommend you to do so immediately as this is one of the classics in the heavy music underground (it’s streaming in full over at the Devouter Records Bandcamp site).
Now, what has always been a very strong point in the saturating instrumental music genre is the fact Wiht puts their music in a conceptual story, usually to do with some historic battles that have happened in the Yorkshire area, where the band is based. Back in 2012 my colleague Mike interviewed the band asking about the concept of behind their album: “The Harrowing of the North was a series of raids executed by William the Conqueror shortly after he came to throne, also known as ‘The Harrying’. The aim of these raids were simple and pretty bloody brutal; William wanted to bring the North of England to its knees, rid it of any economic or cultural worth and by operating a scorched earth policy, ensure it would be on its arse for generations to come.”
Making instrumental conceptual music is not an easy thing to do as for starters, you don’t have any lyrics and as a band you really need to do the music all the talking. Hence the use of rather long tracks, which give the time to change the dynamics and riffing often enough to present some kind of story. This new track ‘Edgar the Atheling’ is no difference as it follows a similar concept as on The Harrowing of the North, though instead of focussing on the raids through the eyes of William the Conqueror, this song tells the story through the eyes of the rebels instead. The band has posted a long explanation of the concept on their Bandcamp page, so I won’t go into much detail here as you can read that for yourself.
I want to say a few things about the music on ‘Edgar the Atheling’ instead, as this track is an amazing piece of work. It feels a bit heavier than their previous work and the dynamics are again used to perfection, making the track flow back and forth, from heavier to gentler bits. The short intro builds up the drums very briefly accompanied by the warm sounds of feedback from the guitar, before the song opens up straight away with a great doomy riff and some almost post-metal sounding guitars. The drums are what makes this track outstanding to me as there are so many subtle fills and rhythm changes, like the addition of double bass fills just before the 3 minutes mark.
Throughout the first half of the track the tempo changes back and forth, but always comes back to the same riffs and soundscapes. There is a brilliant groove throughout this part of the song, making it a proper headbanger of a tune. Then almost exactly halfway through the song breaks up completely for a long breather where you hear the gentle sounds of fuzz almost flowing like a wave followed by some almost kraut-sounding guitar effects and subtle picking of cleaner notes. Those drums come in again to stamp their mark on this intermezzo as well with some near bombastic tom work. From here on it slowly builds up towards a climax of epic proportions, reaching Russian Circles like post-metal levels, adding more and more to the mix to really finish this track on a massive high, making the listener wanting to go back to the beginning of the track instantly.
‘Edgar the Atheling’ is the first part of a new physical release and the band is currently writing and recording the second part, but as that might take some time still they decided to release this first track digitally now. You can download it from here (‘name your price’ download) and you can still buy the vinyl of The Harrowing of the North through Devouter Records here.
It is very exciting to have Wiht back in the game. I can’t wait to hear the second half of the upcoming release and I hope they’ll do plenty of touring. The heavy music scene is flourishing at the moment and Wiht would do very well if they play their cards right.
