There are some progressive thinkers out there who believe hell is not a place of brimstone and churning magma vats, but rather a place you might go to live out your worst worldly fears for all of perpetuity. For many, sitting in solitary confinement, listening to the shriek of demons for all-time at top decibel while traversing their infertile mental landscape, constantly haunted by the internal demons that inhabit the deep, dark reaches of their own spiraling negative infinity for eternity might be kind of a drag. These people are most likely not Burning Witch fans.
For the uninitiated, Burning Witch is Greg Anderson and Steven O’Malley’s band before anyone ever heard of those names. Greg Anderson's Southern Lord imprint, along with its most vital act, O’Malley’s Sunn O))), has become synonymous with the new breed of creeping gaseous heavy drone that has oozed its way into the metal market in these opening days of Aquarius. You won’t hear Anderson's playing on this collection though, as he left the band to form Goatsnake before the Witch ever entered the studio. The original Crippled Lucifer, also released on Southern Lord, was a compilation of their first two EPs, Rift Canyon Dreams (Merciless Records) and Towers (Slap-A-Ham). Towers was actually a reissue of their demo, recorded in ‘96 by Steve Albini. Their follow-up to the Albini sessions became Rift Canyon Dreams. Sadly, this would be the band's last release. In ‘98, the original Crippled Lucifer was compiled, including the two EPs (sans the track “Communion,” which was inexplicably omitted).
This latest manifestation I review today was supposed to be released earlier in 2007, and went so far as hitting store shelves when a manufacturer’s defect was discovered and a mass recall was ordered. Now, the glitches have been corrected and 10 years after the original Crippled Lucifer release, Southern Lord gives it the deluxe treatment. Finally, all of Burning Witch’s material is beautifully collected on two CDs with a magnificently printed sepia-toned, 40-page booklet complete with handwritten lyrics, photographs, and thermodynamic diagrams to boot. (Seriously, does anyone do a more knock-out job of packaging than Southern Lord?)
Fans of the new breed of drone metal will hear the seedlings of their favorite bands like Sunn O))) and Khanate being planted. However, the subtlety and tectonic slowness of Sunn O))) compress the more aggressive use of drones by Burning Witch to vapor. The tracks from the Rift Canyon Dreams are less insistent and more of a celebration of natural landscapes. There, one can see a closer approximation to the aforementioned bands’ style of creeping death. The older tracks are more in line with the hardline, Sabbath-worshipping stoners, Eyehategod and Cavity. Singer, Edgy 59’s vocals are probably the biggest difference between the new mostly vocal-less acts. An often face-painted King Diamond look-a-like, Edgy 59’s range runs from death-rock Christian Death pandering to Geddy Lee style vocal theatrics -- when he’s not shrieking like a bat out of hell. O’Malley’s guitar is as crushing as anything he’s ever done, each drone hanging out in negative space; a new drone is not created until the previous one evaporates into the atmosphere, as the drums slowly plod along in a merciless war cry.
For fans of this style, no excuse should be made for not picking this collection up. Even if you’ve collected all of the Witch’s material in their previous incarnations, this package here is a beautiful and concise oeuvre that is, as stated on the Southern Lord website, finally awarded its “appropriate sheath.” You, the listener, will also be rewarded, with near two hours of demonic doom that should, if you’re lucky, remove all light and joy from your petty little existence.
