Now this is how you do both doom and heavy metal justice by adding more fumes to the fire by making them explode like crazy! Witchskull are an Australian trio from Canberra. They’ve been around for nearly nine years, and have brought a massive amount of ammo to sweat bullets on their latest album The Serpent Tide.
Marcus De Pasquale, Tony McMahon, and Joel Green are a band of brothers who have done their homework by getting down to business, and have no time for excuses. Marcus’ voice brings to mind Family’s Roger Chapman, Blind Guardian’s Hansi Kürsch, Budgie’s Burke Shelley, Cedric Bixler-Zavala from The Mars Volta, and Maggy Luyten.
When you hear him sing, it sends shock waves along with his playing. Between the riffs, Tony’s eruptive volcano work, and the tidal-waving effects from Green himself, that’s only the appetiser. ‘The Serving Ritual’ becomes a galloping ride into the battlefield as the trio began their march to their doom in a massive blood fest with thundering beats while the scenery becomes an intensive momentum that is right in your face.
Then comes the bloody gore fest the trio embarks on throughout the final section of the song which speaks of Rush’s Fly By Night-era and Iron Maiden’s first two albums from the Di’Anno-era. Witchskull doesn’t mess around. Once they kick you in the ball sack, they kick it so hard, you’ll be shitting your pants, 24/7!
‘Obsidian Eyes’ walks into a romance gone horribly wrong. It becomes a gruesome murder. Marcus becomes this person who’s on the brink of a nervous breakdown before going on a rampage shooting up the place like Al Pacino’s character Tony Montana who goes on this last stand in the climax of Brian de Palma’s 1983 cult classic, Scarface.
Then, all of a sudden, everything starts to go on this cannibalistic rampage between ‘Bornless Hollow’ and ‘Misery’s Horse’ where Witchskull finally bring in the big guns to raise some hell! The great thing about those two tracks is that each of the temperature levels start to go higher and higher, than ever before.
As I’ve mentioned earlier this is metal at its best. And it’s great to great to hear something out of this world from our fellow Aussie’s (Tony’s from the Big Apple, mind you) to give the metal genre, the biggest slice of Blueberry Pie you’ll devour from The Serpent Tide!
