The DevilsHorns

Soul Cellar, and not ‘Soul Seller’ as I have mistakenly referred to it in my notes, is the sophomore album by Toronto based doomsters Witchrot. If you like your doom fuzz-laden, with lashings of psychedelic shoegaze and female fronted, then this quintet may be for you.

The first thing you may notice is a similarity to fellow doom band, Windhand. Although Lea Reto’s vocals are probably completely different if you check closely, they are reminiscent of their counterparts. This puts Witchrotin a very competitive environment. It is also a sign of the confidence and belief they have in themselves, which is a very good thing to have.

No 10 minute long dronefests here! To be perfectly honest, the eponymous closing track is one of the strongest on the album, with a superb strangled guitar standing out.

Other good tracks include the riff lathering doom soapiness on ‘Throat Cutter’. Here, the guitar almost sounds like lyrics. Very enjoyable. The intro to ‘Die Alone’ is the best on the album. The neck muscles stretch and the riff is, for a doom song, rather upbeat.

So, what is it that prevents me wanting to delve deeply into Soul Cellar?

Unfortunately, it is the vocals. Lea Reto does have a rather lovely voice, but, across all 7 tracks, it does tend to become a bit samey, it lacks variation and a bit of sneaky nuance. On the plus side, the variety in the riffs and song structure does boost the album. What would really help would be if there was a regular male vocal, just to offset the main vocals and add depth, but this is just my view. I know plenty of people who will love this album and thing I’m an idiot for my review.

I can live with that, I can’t live with regular listens to Soul Cellar.

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