It’s difficult to capture the power of Windhand live, but the Reverb Appreciation Society‘s druids did a good job of it with the Virginian doom metal band’s Levitation Sessions.
Garrett Morris‘ opening guitar riffs on “Old Evil” are like the sound of a dragon awakening from a slumber in a dormant volcano. Dorthia Cottrell‘s vocals are the voice of the sorceress awakening said dragon, Ryan Wolfe‘s drums are the sides of the volcano breaking away as the dragon stretches its wings, and Parker Chandler‘s bass is the growling of the beast’s hungry, fiery belly. This heavy and hypnotizing sound is one that Windhand does well, and it’s a chilling experience.
“Diablerie,” a song about the machinations of evil beings, sounds like a swarm of black cloaked hornets. Cottrell’s vocals fade between the front and back of the song, not unlike a mist you see and feel around you but cannot grasp. Morris’ solo is like a falling star you manage to glimpse through a break in the mist before it hits the Earth and creates a shockwave for miles.
There’s a little time to breathe before “First to Die,” and I love the way Cottrell chose to sing the vocals on this version. She takes to a quieter (but not by much, mind you) approach and lets Chandler’s bass and Wolfe’s drums carry the red dwarf star matter-heavy weight of the track. The live version of “Forest Clouds” on this recording gives me chills every time I hear it. Every. Time. It’s like walking in a dark wetlands at the bottom of a cemetery hill filled with cloaked figures who may or may not be ghosts. It creeps along for nearly eleven minutes and can be unsettling to the uninitiated.
“Three Sisters” (with horror movie keyboard riffs from Jonathan Kassalow) layers the reverb on Cottrell’s vocals and Morris’ guitar to make them sound like siren and whale songs bouncing off sharp rocks. Chandler and Wolfe keep the rhythm simple and brooding throughout it, not unlike the Telltale Heart. The opening guitar squall of “Grey Garden” is practically the sound of a wrought iron gate being wrenched open on a tomb, which is appropriate for a song about death and reincarnation.
“I miss the feeling of the landslide, shaking the dust off my skin,” Cottrell sings on “Orchard” – a dark song about even darker things that lie waiting for us beyond the veil (if we choose to give them power, that is). The album ends with another eleven-minute stunner – “Cossack.” There’s enough sludge in it to make you feel like you’re wading through a swamp to battle a shambling mound with an obsidian sword you found in an abandoned dwarfish mine. It slows to the pace of a kaiju monster stomping across the countryside around the eight-minute mark.
It’s another excellent Levitation Session and a fine addition to Windhand‘s catalogue. Not even 2020 can keep their power at bay.
Keep your mind open.
[Levitate over to the subscription box while you’re here.]
