This is the third album from US stoner/sludge metal band Witch Ripper.
2023’s The Flight After the Fall was a thoroughly enjoyable progressive stoner sludge album, so it’s with some expectation that the coming of Through the Hourglass is greeted. Across 44 minutes of new material, Witch Ripper build on the strengths of their previous work confidently and capably.
There’s an intro track, which is decent enough, but if it was that worth having it would have been included as part of the first proper song. As it is, once you’re past this, you’re into the good stuff – six songs that will take you on a adventure.
Witch Ripper deal in hooks, be they ones made of clean or harsh singing, bright melodies, juicy riffs, or anything else. They also deal in progressive worldbuilding, making for songs that have both style and substance. The band have an epic streak, which they indulge in skilfully, but they also have an earthy, heavy metal edge that allows them the best of both worlds; Through the Hourglass reaches for the heavens as it claws at the dirt.
The songs blur by in a myriad of colours and feelings. Witch Ripper have put in the work, constructing songs that take the listener on a journey into the band’s well-rounded world. It’s a soundscape of musical depth and a richness of melody that’s affecting. There’s plenty of heaviness, but this is only part of the band’s formula; they’re equally at home piling on the metallic weight as they are soaring with beautiful clean singing. Whatever they do on Through the Hourglass, they do it well.
Through the Hourglass is a very enjoyable record, it has to be said. Well-crafted, with plenty of tasty moments, the songs showcase the band’s abilities in no uncertain terms. If you’re looking for something that exists in a place where Between the Buried and Me, Dvne, Mastodon, and Protest the Hero meet, then Through the Hourglass is very much for you.
Very highly recommended.
Wonderbox Metal 