Wrought into familiar sculpt by time strained arms and slow-burnt psyche this debut full-length album from Austin, Texas-based death/doom metal quartet VOID WITCH benefits greatly from its patiently chiseled construction having been poured over in fragmented steps ’til set exactly as-is. Though it greets with the rippling of skin and hackles raised ‘Horripilating Presence‘ is an experience that tends to push forth via curiosity and Eldritch intrigue rather than stand frozen in pure horror as a fairly traditional undertaking given a strong melodious voice. Beset by ear-tracing leads and given strong enough still-categorical variety thier work outshines the spine-caressing déjà vu that seasoned sub-genre specific fandom will experience otherwise making for an easily approached record that feels (more than) one step beyond the usual sub-genre entry already.

Void Witch officially formed circa 2021 by way of folks who’d played in various thrash, death and related projects that’d largely been active in the 2000’s. They’ve all got some reasonable experience with metal (some with deeper interest in other genres as well) in the past and some of them have worked together in various groups but as far as I can tell this style of ‘old school’ inspired death metal is their first gig of the sort. With all of these factors in mind they’d make short work of their already finely tuned first demo tape (‘Void Witch‘, 2021) which was originally a two song self-released deal ’til Everlasting Spew picked them up and reissued it with a bonus track. The general consensus was that those three songs were potentially inspired by earlier Hooded Menace and resembled the peaking next-generational works of bands like Temple of Void and Solothus where ‘old school’ death/doom metal traditions infuse(d) either epic station or ebbed into a more melodic death/doom metal sense… essentially one part early Paradise Lost and another something more traditional doom metal oriented such as God Forsaken (Finland) and the traditions that’d followed since. This was yet a starting point, a general outline for pacing and the slow-to-mid paced step of their work and the spectacularly rich render of it. It wasn’t original in any sense but a very high professional standard from a style which rarely reeks of insight or ambition.

‘Horripilating Presence‘ is not just a continuation of the demo’s thread but rather a leap beyond its already professional quality, resulting in a far more impressive sound and sense of personalize style as a specific knack for pace and pulverization is applied to dirging, and oftentimes tuneful songs. This approach infuses most of ‘Horripilating Presence‘ with an ominous yet inviting quality which might be ready to break into a ‘Gateways to Annihilation‘-level turn of phrase (“Grave Mistake”) or a ‘Heartwork‘ style groove as the centerpiece for one song (“Second Demon“) and then shift toward a more atmospheric, funereal fixation the next (“Thousand-Eyed Stalactite”) all while maintaining a consistently dramatic tone with just enough of a heavy rock inspired death metal sound to keep things moving and memorable enough. These are the major ingredients of a death metal band going above and beyond the old ways of the niche (separate from the Celtic Frost inspired sects of the late 80’s/early 90’s) where setting growls in front of downtuned traditional doom metal gave the Sabbath groove an Ancient ones-scaled heft.

In some sense one of the biggest successes of Void Witch‘s debut owes a lot to its influences, although their sound is quite close to some of the more recent Hooded Menace releases (‘Ossuarium Silhouettes Unhallowed‘ especially) in terms of their use of leads this is not in direct reference when considering choices made and the artistic voice of the band. That said the familiar aspect of their sound plays a hug role as an “in” for the quickened development of their own signature, which is moderately eclectic thanks to plenty of lead guitar interest acting as a leading melodic guidance through most songs while the rest is fleshed out by deeper exploration of its rhythmic knack. You should feel all of this mounting in mind by the time opener “Grave Mistake” has chimed in where the tension the song builds in its verses has kinda hit a death n’ roll level looseness by the time its squealing-high solos have found their peak in the final third. They’re a heavy-ass band for sure but most of this album can’t help but show of its taste for swinging grooves and basically anything they can do to not play straight classic death metal chunking riffs for more than ~15-20 seconds at a time, constantly turning a new leaf.

While the opener threatens to bring their own big personality up front you might be checking the insert for guest guitarists on “Second Demon” which again sounds like a guitar hook written by Bill Steer circa 1993-1995 repurposed into a slow-slugging melodic death metal stomp and while it doesn’t fit with every other moment on the album it manages to be one of the best, most insightfully writ songs on the album overall. I definitely found myself wheeling back to it despite the real clincher moments coming in the next couple of songs, such as the more gloom-stricken dramatism of the longest piece on the album “Malevolent Demiurge”. Most songs tend toward the ~6-7 minute range and this is where we eventually get to the meatier riffcraft and the true test of this records substance beyond the flashier, catchier gear they’ve sported up front. If you’re interested in the dreamier, prog-death drift and soaring leads of Dream Unending I believe this middle portion of the album should speak to those interests though it takes a few more direct turns toward early-to-mid 90’s death metal craft, something closer to the earliest stuff/demos from Celestial Season or nearby. At this point I’d felt that much of this album would amount to kind of touring the modern standard as there isn’t much that directly links the first three or four songs together beyond a similar set of tools being used.

The mood of ‘Horripilating Presence‘ is not so brutally dire that the full listen ever becomes wholly connective, there are yearning and tragedian peaks to find but they are searching rather than sinking into dread completely if we can take the psychic temperature of Void Witch up front. The benefit of this is that the experience remains easy to listen to while avoiding a truly taxing result as well, the downside is that this leaves the more performative use of lead guitars as the main point of connectivity. The solace found within a deeper downtrodden piece like “Supernova of Brain and Bone” comes by way of melodic leads and the refrain on offer and this never quite makes room for the vocals to express in more than a purely functional way. All is generally resolved by the end of the full listen and at ~40 minutes all is succinct enough that it moves quick enough and cleanly enough to inspire repeated listening.

By the time we hit the end of the album the energy begins to dry up a bit in the doldrums of a couple of pieces yet the leads and bigger doom metal riffs help keep all of it humming together as one, never reaching the point of filler or too-plain a result. I guess the one criticism I’d came after finding a lot of insight and ambition packed into the closer/title track (“Horripilating Presence“) which brings in some ‘In Utero‘ and space rock inspired drum patterns alongside floatier psych-searching dual guitar tones and some of their most intense bursts of speed. Why hold so many of those more curious choices and traits back ’til the end? It outshines the plodding n’ plainness displayed on “Thousand-Eyed Stalactite” before it to such a degree I’d almost began skipping that just to get to the grand finale.

Despite having been left with some moderate inkling that Void Witch‘d been holding back a bit as to not overwhelm their debut with an overflow of ideas I did ultimately walk away from ‘Horripilating Presence‘ impressed by their pro-level presentation and the greater effect of each full listen where the surreal, the estranged themes and such all meet up well with a classic-ish death/doom metal ideal set to a high modern standard. Some of their ideas arrive out of the blue but hey, those moments’re always faceted in places where it either counts as a brightly set interruption or a fine showing of skill which highlights the overall listen. Not to mention the first impression and the tenth were all the more interesting thanks to cover artwork from artist Jaime Zuverza who brings a darker touch to their typically bright yet smokey, shape-built surrealistic landscapes. All of this amounts to some extra care and serious thought put into the album’s curation and with these well-chiseled choices in mind I can’t help but feel this album has managed its own admirable touch which excels far, far beyond the expectations of a death metal debut LP these days. A high recommendation.

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