Although Witchcraft are still very much an ongoing band, with ‘Nucleus’ being released at the beginning of last year, singer Marcus Pelander has also found time to record a very different album to his day job (Mikael Åkerfeldt take note) and has released it under his surname to distinguish it, as there is a vast difference in style to what one may expect from a band that play doom. What we have is a thoughtful acoustic singer-songwriter album, with delicate accompaniment added by others as the need arises. This may involve strings, or a female singer, or flute, whatever is right for the music. It isn’t folk in the sense that one may expect, but instead has been heavily influenced by what some rock bands were doing in the Seventies when they brought in acoustic elements.
The highlight has to be “The Irony Of Man”, which is delicate, emotional, dynamic and powerful, all with instruments being played delicately and in perfect harmony. I could play this song on repeat all day, as it is truly beautiful. There are only six songs on this thirty-six minute long album, and two of them are nearly half the total length, but as it fits in so well with the style of music being released some forty-five years ago I have no real issue with that, as virtually all single albums in those days lasted only approximately twenty minutes a side. This is all about quality as opposed to quantity, and anyone into class acoustic music performed with passion and integrity need to seek this out. Due to his main band, this album has been released on Nuclear Blast, but I can guarantee that this is very much out of kilter with the rest of the material on that label. Truly superb.
