Witchsorrow – No Light, Only Fire (Review)

This is the third album from UK Doom Metal band Witchsorrow.

Witchsorrow are a Traditional Doom Metal band and No Light, Only Fire has all of the requisite ingredients that you would expect from this particular sub-genre. What sets it apart is a feeling of real darkness that infuses the songs, and the fact that the songs themselves are pretty damn good.

It’s well-recorded and packs a punch; none of this retro-worship, fake-authentic throwback sound for Witchsorrow. That’s not to say that No Light, Only Fire is over-produced or hyper-polished; it isn’t, it just has a very strong sound that allows the band to land with a thump.

The songs are, (largely), slow-to-mid-paced affairs that play the long game and really go in for some atmospheric occult misery, as well they should. The main exception to this rule is the first track There Is No Light Only Fire, which is more upbeat and traditionally Heavy Metal in its approach, before the more crushing Doom of the next song The Martyr kicks in.

The songs have character and charisma, and come across as prime Black Sabbath-esque songs, unearthed from a secret stash and recorded fresh in the present day. Witchsorrow appear to have gone to the Doom Metal source and made secret pacts with the same dark figures that gave Black Sabbath their powers.

So what if you’ve heard it all before? This is a damn good way to spend 64 minutes and Witchsorrow have made a firm fan out of me. What say you?