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 total accounting: a convergence of every part the band has been, and a glimpse of what they could nonetheless turn into.
Streaming in full beneath 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 “as we speak”—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 historic 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 reality. IDAG performs like a end result, a reckoning, a thesis. Not simply one other Witchcraft document. The Witchcraft document.
Stream the album in full beneath 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.
