For our first exclusive, we are very happy to announce the forthcoming release by Levertraan of the full-length debut of Witches Brew.

The album comes after a series of EP and split records that saw their sound get nastier and less genre-restricted with time. Instead of presenting a more accessible sound in their debut album, Witches Brew embrace the filth. Previously found traces of black metal take center stage, feedback manipulations become full-fledged drone incursions.

Risen from the corpse of President Evil in 2010, the Nijmegen based-duo known as Witches Brew has been on an ever-mutating path since. Their solo 2015 releases tell of their early dichotomies. On the one hand, there was «Reefer I», ten weed laced powerviolence tracks in a three-minute onslaught of drums, guitars, and screams. On the other hand, in «Red Gravy» saw a guitar replace the bass and plenty a passage of sludge infesting the otherwise speedy proceedings. Last year, their split with the volcanic-obsessed Throw Me In The Crater told of new contrasts. Gone was the powerviolence predominance, the remaining sludge drowned by bestial black metal. Before proceeding to a description of the album’s approach, you can stream it’s third track, «Shadows On The Wood», below.

Opening «Witches Brew» and setting it’s tone is «Wyrmsele», in which of a long, menacing dirge eventually gives way to a deliciously vicious climax of punk leaning black metal. One is then faced with four tracks revolving around black metal, although not around the same type of black metal they presented in last year’s split, but closer to the sort of savagery that one can imagine would result from a cross-breeding between fellow countrymen Lubbert Das and some of the folks from the Vrasubatlat collective. Whereas most overt departures from this relentless basis tend to focus on drone-like build-ups or the aforementioned black punk outbursts, a beautiful remnant of their sludge mastery can nevertheless be found on «Ash And Bone», where the duo seamlessly bookends some pissed-off black metal with a sludge intro and outro. This feast of blast beats and swirling riffs drenched in low-end is brought to and end by almost fifteen minutes of noisy drone, split among two tracks. The latter of the pair, album closer «Loathsome Worm», is not only a soothing way to cap off half an hour of punishing music, but a reminder that one doesn’t consistently evolve one’s sound from powerviolence to black metal without picking up some idiosyncratic songwriting traits along the way.

«Witches Brew» will be available through Levertraan from February 14 on cassette format. Information on orders is available at this location.