Witchcraft – Magnus Pelander
Witchcraft don’t simply return with Idag—they arrive. After greater than 20 years of forging a path by Sweden’s doom underground and past, IDAG is the complete accounting: a convergence of all the things the band has been, and a glimpse of what they could nonetheless grow to be.
Streaming in full under forward of its Could 23 launch through Heavy Psych Sounds, Idag is Witchcraft’s seventh album and the long-awaited reply to a discography outlined by stressed evolution. From the analog-seeking spellcraft of their 2004 self-titled debut by the progressive depths of The Alchemist, the fashionable riff heft of Legend, and the acoustic minimalism of Black Steel, founding guitarist and vocalist Magnus Pelander has by no means stood nonetheless.
Idag—Swedish for “at the moment”—ties all of it collectively. It opens with the heaviest observe they’ve ever recorded (the eight-minute title observe), struts by ’70s-styled swagger on “Irreligious Flamboyant Flame,” and weaves in acoustic-based items like “Om Du Vill” and “Gläntan (Längtan),” which channel a soulfully folkish doom spirit that feels each historical and private. This isn’t revivalism—it’s refinement.
Pelander, who dealt with manufacturing and wrote all of the music and lyrics, calls it plainly: “This album will reap souls and destroy depraved minds. And maybe mend a few damaged ones.” There’s a wink within the phrasing—a nod to Coven’s 1969 proto-doom relic Witchcraft Destroys Minds and Reaps Souls—however there’s additionally fact. IDAG performs like a end result, a reckoning, a thesis. Not simply one other Witchcraft file. The Witchcraft file.
Stream the album in full under and preorder Idag now through Heavy Psych Sounds on LP, CD, cassette, and digital codecs. Then, go sit within the woods for some time and attempt to make sense of what you simply heard.
