Bell Witch – Future’s Shadow Part 1: The Clandestine Gate (Review)

Bell Witch are a funeral doom band from the US and this is their fourth album.

Following on from 2017’s now-classic Mirror Reaper, (by way of 2020’s collaboration with Aerial Ruin Stygian Bough: Volume I), Bell Witch have unleashed another giant work of funeral doom art.

Following the same format as the mighty Mirror Reaper in the sense that Future’s Shadow Part 1: The Clandestine Gate contains a single track – The Clandestine Gate – that shares the same 83-minute duration as its predecessor. The first of a 3-part triptych, and arising out of the significant shadow cast by Mirror Reaper, The Clandestine Gate reveals itself to be more than worthy in its own right, and heralds a new Bell Witch landscape to explore.

Future’s Shadow Part 1: The Clandestine Gate is a gradually unfurling colossus of considered emotion and minimalist intensity. The lengthy running time is made good use of, expanding and breathing into its space with unhurried confidence. While comparisons to Mirror Reaper are inevitable, this new album is a different entity. It inhabits its own world, one which it brings to life with a subtle emotive power that’s immersive and compelling. It has recognisable elements taken from Mirror Reaper, as you’d expect, but also from Stygian Bough: Volume I, which is great to hear as I loved that record also.

Synths and organs see much more prominent use on this new album, adding expressive layers to the dark, mournful music. There’s a greater melodic component to the music too, which allows for a richer exploration of texture and feeling than you might have expected. While firmly drenched in the band’s trademark misery and despair, The Clandestine Gate is a more multifaceted song than Mirror Reaper, and even allows for shades of hope and moments of light to creep in.

Future’s Shadow Part 1: The Clandestine Gate will absolutely not be for everybody, but that’s a given. However, if you’re a fan of long-form funeral doom that has a flavour all of its own, then this is pretty much an essential a listen as it gets. Don’t miss this.