#witchcryer

WITCHCRYER-RICOCHET

Band: WitchcryerSong: “Nemesis the Inevitable”Album: When Their Gods Come For YouRelease Date: August 20th, 2021Label: Ripple Music Frontwoman Suzy Bravo recounts the inspiration behind the track: “During my junior year in high school, a beautiful freshman girl that everyone knew was raped and murdered. It was discovered that another classmate who gave her a ride home after a party she was…

Band: WitchcryerSong: “Hellmouth”Album: When Their Gods Come For YouRelease Date: August 20th, 2021Label: Ripple Music Vocalist Suzy Bravo explains the track: “‘Hellmouth’ is an apocalyptic tale of an enormous Leviathan fish whose gaping jaws act as an entrance to hell. At the crack of doom, Hellmouth surfaces from the depths of the ocean to seek and devour doomed souls by swallowing them whole…

~Doomed & Stoned Debuts~

By Billy Goate

One of the most exciting bands to originate from the fertile musical soil of Austin is WITCHCRYER. Having left an indellible impression on us already with their first full-length, 'Cry Witch' (2017), Suzy Bravo (vox), Jason Muxlow (guitar), Javi Moctezuma (drums), and Marilyn (bass) return with an impressive second album on Ripple Music.

“When Their Gods Come For You,” the band says, "is a concept album that deals with deities across various ages of civilization throughout time. The album starts with 'Devil & The Deep Blue Sea,' a Faustian tale of a damned soul swallowed by an apocalyptic leviathan, Hellmouth, and the narrator’s attempt to fight for their life. The album continues with the song 'Hellmouth' in which the narrator is now the Anglo-Saxon depicted demon fish itself. Songs about Greek gods and titans with tales of pride and punishment follow, as well as a Mesoamerican sun deity teaching its doomed warrior people to fly, a Roman goddess seeking justice for crimes against women, the tale of the Blackfoot creation god."

Today, Doomed & Stoned is bringing you a listen to that enchanting doomer, "Hellmouth," and asked the band for further comment on the track. They happily obliged, taking us on a deeper walk through the ancient lore:

Hellmouth is an apocalyptic tale of an enormous Leviathan fish whose gaping jaws act as an entrance to hell. At the crack of doom, Hellmouth surfaces from the depths of the ocean to seek and devour doomed souls by swallowing them whole and taking them to the depths of hell. This tale is told through the narration of Hellmouth.

Historically, the story of Hellmouth is based on 12th century Anglo-Saxon art that was retold and spread throughout Europe throughout the ages. Witchcryer's modern day rendition of Hellmouth is retold in collaboration with Austin based Golden Monkey Tattoo artist, John Michael Bowley. This single release features colorful detailed artwork created through the use of a technique called "spit shading," a technique that uses the replacement of water through the artist's spit to control the amount of pigment that is blended outwards to make colors lighter than the original pigment.

To create the non-human demon-like voice of Hellmouth, dual vocals from Witchcryer vocalist, Suzy Bravo and Destroyer of Light's Steve Colca were recorded and processed through TC Helicon Critical Mass vocal effects. The song is bass heavy with a "low end punch," so hold on tight and take a ride to the doom that is Hellmouth.

With my background being similar to Suzy's religiously, I'm anxious to get into the lyrics even deeper! Oh, and did I mention that the album features guest vocalist Steve Colca from Austin stallwarts Destroyer of Light?

The prot-metal foursome will bring us When THeir Gods Come For You via Ripple Music on August 20th (pre-order here). It's a welcome addition to the mighty Catalog of Doom and an Album of the Year contender to be reckoned with!

Give ear...

PREORDER — When Their Gods Come for You by Witchcryer

Some Buzz

Witchcryer was created by guitarist Jason Muxlow during his time with Chicago doom band, Earthen Grave and became his priority when he moved to Austin in early 2015. That summer, he began co-writing songs with drummer Javi Moctezuma and vocalist/lyricist Suzy Bravo joined the band later that year, which led to the release of their demo The Preying Kind,With the final addition of San Antonio bassist Marilyn Monroe (Pillcrusher, Las Cruces), Witchcryer played its first show in April 2016.

Their debut album Cry Witch was released on Ripple Records in 2018, comprising nine songs of classic doom produced by the band & Brant Sankey. The band toured the Southern states with Italian doom band Messa, then made their way north to Chicago later in the year, while playing regularly throughout Texas.

In the fall of 2019, the band headed back to producer Brant Sankey’s Studio E in San Antonio to work on the new album. This time out, the sound is bigger, grander, and more epic, the band leaning into their rock and metal roots with special guest vocals by doom metal vocalists Gary Rosas (Ungrieved, Mala Suerte) and Steve Colca (Destroyer of Light).

'When Their Gods Come For You' (2019) is a new conceptual album from Texas classic doom band Witchcryer, featuring songs about gods across various ages of civilization throughout time. Featuring thickly-woven epics such as a Faustian tale of a damned soul swallowed whole by an apocalyptic leviathan, an account of a Mesoamerican sun deity teaching its doomed warrior people to fly, and a Roman goddess seeking justice for crimes against women. Ambitious and dynamic, this is anthemic old-school metal mixed with weighty modern doom!

Vocalist Suzy Bravo about writing this new album: "This is the album that I’ve been writing in my head my entire life. When I was about 7 years old in 1983, my grandmother took me to the Aztec Theatre in San Antonio to see a double feature of Hercules starring Lou Ferrigno and Clash of the Titans. I fell in love with Greek mythology and stories about these mighty gods. I would obsess over encyclopedias around the house and find every book I could about gods from every religion.

Suzy continues: "I became a Jehovah Witness by myself when I was about 8 or 9. I used to read my yellow Children’s Book of Bible Stories and recite every story to memory. I’ll never forget how dazzled I was by the illustrations. I became a Christian when I was 11 years old all by myself. I would go to churches by myself and even got baptized by myself. I knew that whoever I wanted to be, I had to figure it out by myself. In high school, I briefly got into Buddhism and then a teacher loaned me a book called If You Meet the Buddha On the Road, Kill Him. I was taken aback and was offended by the title. But, when I read the book, the book taught me that it was okay to question religious hierarchies. This is a very personal album, but I’m not trying to tell anyone what to believe in. Overall, the album is just my chance to tell a bunch of great stories with great illustrations."

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