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When it became apparent that underground metal favorites Thorshammer had to shut down their operation, the group re-formed intact (except for vocalist Ozma and bassist James Hale) and charted a musical course both slower and heavier than their previous partnership. The resulting project became Burning Witch, one of extreme music's all-time slowest, lowest bands. Darker than doom metal, spookier than sludge, Burning Witch explored the most secluded corners of negativity and depression. Subsequent artists have matched this group's minimal approach to metal in terms of beats-per-minute and ridiculously detuned instrumentation, but Burning Witch recordings will perhaps always be known for their unmatched reach into the maudlin depths of fear, paranoia, and the entire range of sour human emotion.
After putting the cult success that was Thorshammer to rest in 1995, guitarists Stephen O'Malley and Greg Anderson (the latter formerly of the post-rock Engine Kid) along with drummer Jamie Sykes formed Burning Witch with the explicit intention of topping their previous unit in terms of heaviness. The trio came one step closer to its lofty goal when bassist G. Stuart Dahlquist and vocalist Edgy 59 signed on to the project. Anderson left to form the stoner group Goatsnake before the completion of any meaningful Burning Witch recordings. The band then carried on with only one guitarist and in 1996, they recorded their debut EP, Towers, with white-hot "alternative" producer Steve Albini (the Pixies, Big Black, PJ Harvey, Nirvana, etc.) Like the work of Thorshammer before, Towers was an instant sensation all along the hard music fringe. Doom/sludge fans were obsessed with the record's challenge to the concepts of rock structure and form. The band followed up their debut with another EP the following year entitled Rift.Canyon.Dreams, an even more experimental effort. This 1997 release utilized complex but still heavy and repetitive riffing to achieve a more mature but equally punishing sound. Sykes was replaced by drummer B.R.A.D. for the Rift.Canyon.Dreams sessions. Then, just after their second disc was finished, Burning Witch disbanded in 1997. A year later, both of the group's recordings were combined on one CD and released on O'Malley's and former guitarist Anderson's new Southern Lord stoner/doom specialty label. The strength of this compilation -- entitled Crippled Lucifer (Seven Psalms for Our Lord of Light) -- was a key factor that lead to the label's commercial viability. Surprised by the success, Southern Lord's founders began signing more bands and subsequently grew to become one of their genre's most important musical hubs. This fact alone secures Burning Witch a certain amount of historical significance within the stoner/doom community. A couple of the defunct group's tracks that hadn't been released were put on a Hydra Head Records split with Goatsnake in 2000, pretty much completing Burning Witch's discography. Besides running Southern Lord, O'Malley and Anderson keep busy with their ambient/doom experimental project Sunn 0))). Anderson also continued on with Goatsnake, with whom Dahlquist hooked up with in 2000. Edgy 59 also moved on to form Sinisstar.
Wikipedia:
Burning Witch was an American doom metal band from Seattle, Washington, active between 1995 and 1998.
History
Burning Witch formed on Capitol Hill, Seattle in early 1995. After the breakup of the doom/death band Thorr's Hammer in 1995, Stephen O'Malley, Greg Anderson and Jamie Sykes formed Burning Witch. The band then added G. Stuart Dahlquist and vocalist Edgy 59, rounding out their lineup. Anderson left the band before they had recorded any real Burning Witch songs to start the band Goatsnake.
In 1996, the band in this incarnation recorded songs with renowned indie producer Steve Albini, which would become the Towers... EP. This collection would actually not see a formal release until 1998 on Slap A Ham Records. After the sessions for these songs, Sykes left the band and was replaced by B.R.A.D.
The sessions that followed the Albini recordings resulted in the Rift.Canyon.Dreams EP, which would prove to be the final recordings by the band, as they broke up soon after the disc was completed. It was released on Merciless Records, but like its predecessor, did not receive much attention outside its scene.
Post-breakup
Crippled Lucifer, a compilation CD of the two EPs, was released soon after on Southern Lord Records, the label founded by Anderson and O'Malley. Burning Witch performed their last shows in the fall of 1998 after which Edgy 59 left for Sinisstar, O'Malley reunited with Anderson to form Sunn O))), and Dahlquist joined Anderson in Goatsnake. Currently, O'Malley is in various projects including Sunn O))). Dahlquist and B.R.A.D are in Asva, and Edgy 59 has a project also with G. Stuart Dahlquist called The Poisoned Glass.
Sound
Most of the music of Burning Witch is very slow and heavy with the drums slowly plodding along with the bass and guitar playing minimalist riffs. Emphasis is usually put on spaces between notes, allowing the bass and guitar to resonate before proceeding to the next note. There are occasional bursts of feedback and noise from O'Malley, but for the most part the guitar and bass follow each other. One of the qualities of Burning Witch is Edgy 59's vocals which alter between a nasal and melodic singing voice to a brutal, tortured, and demented scream or shriek.
There are noticeable differences between the songs on Towers... and Rift. Canyon.Dreams with Towers... being more intense and aggressive and Rift.Canyon.Dreams being more morose and brooding.
The Crippled Lucifer compilation contains all but one song from their two LPs. The Goatsnake / Burning Witch split contains two songs, one from each of the LP recording sessions (and the one omitted from Crippled Lucifer), and the Asva / Burning Witch split contains the song "Rift. Canyon.Dreams".
A lot of terms have been used to describe Burning Witch's highly untraditional sound. Among these are "suicide doom", "transdimensional drone doom", "true blackened doom", and "molasses sludge". Stephen O'Malley has said these descriptions are "ridiculous", insisting Burning Witch is just slow and heavy doom with unique vocals. There is a natural progression in the sound of Burning Witch to the pair's later project Sunn O))), especially on Black One. Comparisons can also be made to O'Malley's later project Khanate.
