{"id":94221,"date":"2022-06-20T00:00:12","date_gmt":"2022-06-19T23:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=94221"},"modified":"2022-07-06T13:40:21","modified_gmt":"2022-07-06T12:40:21","slug":"album-review-sasqwytch-urth-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-sasqwytch-urth-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"SASQWYTCH – Urth II (2022) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

SASQWYTCH
Urth II<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nSelf-released (2022)<\/span>
Rating: 8\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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New Mexico\u2019s Sasqwytch are interesting band. The press release describes them as being \u201carisen from the Ninth Circle of the Valles Caldera\u201d and being a \u201ctri-ape coven of wytches\u2026 equipped with tools of sonic destruction and inspired by death and doom\u201d.<\/p>\n

Urth II<\/em> is the second full-length release from this cleverly named act, and I like the tone as they trundle through what I\u2019d describe as doom-cum-stoner musicianship fused with black \/ death slurping vocal snaps.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s plenty of fuzz in the guitar and plenty of heaviness, but more importantly quite a bit of variety as the combo trudges through some intriguing songs such as \u2018The Serpentine Whip\u2019 which successfully joins death and doom metal. However, there\u2019s an air of the original about these guys, something I can\u2019t quite put my figure on and exhibited throughout.<\/p>\n

\u2018Bistahieversor\u2019 has a nostalgic thrash feel initially, then there\u2019s a feel of bluesy psychedelia, all tainted by those muscular vocal chops. For the most part I get a feeling that if this had been released in the early 90s you\u2019d probably see them on tour with White Zombie or clanking beer cans with Agony Column, because it has that peculiar satanic groove about it, yet there\u2019s a strong thread of aggression and muscularity too.<\/p>\n

Urth II<\/em> is not bewildering or complex, and yet I find it hard to describe. \u2018Grafted In Sinful Design\u2019 has a strong, organic death metal feel; a primitive air and lumbering menace, a character which numerous South American bands possess. But with Sasqwytch there\u2019s a general feel of mysticism, even with the thrashy groove of \u2018Lizardeater\u2019 with its swaggering percussion. And then there\u2019s \u2018River Of Giants\u2019, another sneering, loping strange brew, while \u2018Fanged God\u2019 chugs with a hardcore menace. Yet at the other end of the spectrum we get a peculiar track such as \u2018Ziggurat Of The New Arctic\u2019 with its alternative, avant-garde percussion and angst.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve dipped into this record several times now and just can\u2019t pin it down, because although it\u2019s in your face with its aggression it never reveals its identity. This is just a primal sound from the bowels of New Mexico, and while I can\u2019t quite fathom it I\u2019m at once repelled and compelled by its energy.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SASQWYTCHUrth II Self-released (2022)Rating: 8\/10 New Mexico\u2019s Sasqwytch are interesting band. The press release describes them as being \u201carisen from the Ninth Circle of the Valles Caldera\u201d and being a \u201ctri-ape coven of wytches\u2026 equipped with tools of sonic destruction and inspired by death and doom\u201d. Urth II is the second full-length release from this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,4871],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-94221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-sasqwytch"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94221"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94221\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":94222,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94221\/revisions\/94222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}