This is a reissue of a reissue, the original version of consolidated Burning Witch's two releases onto one CD. This new version splits them onto separate discs and includes other tracks recorded at the time that ended up on split releases with Goatsnake and Asva. Considering Burning Witch releases are now nigh on impossible to find, it is a good job Southern Lord have made this (rather lovely looking) package. The music is heavy beyond heavy; by the end of the two discs I am left with a feeling of having pushed a boulder up a hill for eternity and thinking that eternity is not long enough.
The first CD features the Towers… album along with "The Bleeder," which was recorded during the same sessions. Listening to this now is still an experience, extreme metal has not really moved on from the treacle black dirge of this album. Stephen O'Malley may have refined the formula along with the other members of Khanate but the blueprints are all roughly the same. There is a heavy dose of Norwegian black metal in the sound but combined with the brute, slow force of Swans; the mood is crushing, bleak and darker than the charred remains of a burnt witch. There is little evidence of the Sabbath worship that most doom bands go in for, the riffs are colossal but cut from a completely different form of rock than Tony Iommi etches his out of.
Fossils that would later evolve into Sunn O))) riffs can be heard on "Sacred Predictions": the gruelling chug that propels the track sounding like the precursor to the caveman riffs of The Grimmrobe Demos. Steve Albini captures the monstrous power of the music; the drums are immense, like they are bursting through reality, and the vocals rip through the mix like a razor. "Sea Hag" is this disc's best point, nearly a quarter of an hour of sludgy despair. Edgy 59's vocals sound more like the cries of the tormented than a living human and it is impossible not to feel uneasy during this song.
The second CD contains the material from the Rift.Canyon.Dreams sessions where Burning Witch change drummers to continue the bludgeoning. These songs have never quite hit me in the same way as those from Towers…, to say that Burning Witch became formulaic is wrong but that is the closest I can come to expressing my feelings on Rift.Canyon.Dreams. That being said, the group still absolutely slay all pretenders to the throne. The over-long "Stillborn" does take the wind out of this disc's sails, killing the atmosphere that is built up on Towers… but luckily "History of Hell (Crippled Lucifer)" finds the group pummelling their instruments (and vocal chords) to create a fantastic slab of doom.
Burning Witch remain as potent today as they were a decade ago. In fact they sound more potent now as they highlight how weak many metal bands are in comparison. Sunn O))) and Boris may have opened up the doors for a whole new generation of extreme metal fans but Crippled Lucifer will open up the gates to an underworld they did not know existed. This is a remarkable collection of recordings that has deserved the reissue treatment for some time. I knew what to expect but for a newcomer, this will blow their ears off. If it was not an old release this would instantly be my album of the year.
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