{"id":96569,"date":"2022-10-01T00:00:56","date_gmt":"2022-09-30T23:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=96569"},"modified":"2022-11-01T14:34:35","modified_gmt":"2022-11-01T14:34:35","slug":"album-review-acid-witch-rot-among-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-acid-witch-rot-among-us\/","title":{"rendered":"ACID WITCH – Rot Among Us (2022) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

ACID WITCH
Rot Among Us<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nHells Headbangers (2022)<\/span>
Rating: 7\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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When this bunch of morbid souls from Detroit, Michigan broke back in 2008 with their debut cauldron Witchtanic Hallucinations<\/em> I thought I\u2019d be under the spell forever more, but that wasn\u2019t the case. Instead, I find myself drifting to and from their brand of goofy horror metal in spite of the macabre atmosphere the combo creates.<\/p>\n

\u20185508 Martin St.\u2019 is what notified me that a new album was coming. It\u2019s a typically slime-coated trudge into the annals of horror drenched in throaty vocal croons and a guitar tone that leads you down a misty path into a graveyard of ghouls.<\/p>\n

Even so, as Acid Witch unleashes its fourth full-length cocktail of creepiness I\u2019m left puzzled as to why I rarely visit their VHS rental shop of rot. Maybe Acid Witch \u2013 through all their doomy splendour \u2013 were just puking up something akin to stoner metal but with extra layers of cheese? Anyway, I\u2019ve been more than willing to pay for another ticket on the Acid Witch ghost train, and it\u2019s fair to say I like this new splattery platter.<\/p>\n

Opener \u2018Gather Each Witch\u2019 is very much heavy metal hocus pocus with sizzling leads and atmosphere, even though it primarily exists as an introductory chant before the sinister grooves of the title track are among us. Very much doom-infused, \u2018Rot Among Us\u2019 provides an interesting number while maintaining a Mercyful Fate \/ King Diamond glint in its bloodshot eye at all times without ever straining into such musical or vocal territory.<\/p>\n

Acid Witch is ideal music \u2013 as intended \u2013 for Halloween, but I\u2019m not sure their appeal transcends beyond that in spite of some gloriously gothic escapades on this rich, rewarding and bubbling record. Of the ten tracks on offer, all of which provide an autumnal charm, there\u2019s a boyish nature resulting in comedic touches that tend to go over my head, which is strange considering my obsession with horror nostalgia.<\/p>\n

\u2018The Sleeper\u2019 has a drowsy rumble to its expansive trawl, but it\u2019s standard doom \/ stoner fare in reality as is the distorted fuzz of \u2018Pschedeathic Swampnosis\u2019 which boasts what sounds like a spooky flute-like entry.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to resist the psychedelic permeations of the band as they drag you into their fluorescent mire of weirdness. \u2018Devil\u2019s Night Doom\u2019 takes the classic Tony Iommi riff and marches through the cemetery with ghoulish delight, while \u2018Evil Dad (Dad By Dawn\u2019) is the typically sensational horror squawk I\u2019d expect from the gang. But for me the best of the bunch are \u2018Tommyrotters\u2019 with its sinister trudges and the swampy, gruelling ooze of \u2018Chelsea Didn\u2019t Come Home Last Night\u2019.<\/p>\n

Oddly though, the new Acid Witch is peculiarly predictable; a trudging terror train that\u2019s typically spooktacular in its journey but one which also runs out of steam throughout.<\/p>\n

Maybe extra eye of newt, wing of bat and skin of toad is what\u2019s needed for future issues, but when one considers how long we\u2019ve waited (five years since the last outing, 2017\u2019s Evil Sound Screamers<\/em>) Rot Among Us<\/em> rambles like one of those overly talky 80s slasher flicks that attracts through its cover art and initial visit but succumbs to tracking issues at the midway point.<\/p>\n

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

ACID WITCHRot Among Us Hells Headbangers (2022)Rating: 7\/10 When this bunch of morbid souls from Detroit, Michigan broke back in 2008 with their debut cauldron Witchtanic Hallucinations I thought I\u2019d be under the spell forever more, but that wasn\u2019t the case. Instead, I find myself drifting to and from their brand of goofy horror metal […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5087,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-96569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-acid-witch","category-album-ep-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96569","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=96569"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96569\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":96572,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96569\/revisions\/96572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}