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Band: Two Witches
Album title: The Undead
Release date: 30 June 2021
Label: Deepland Records
Genre: Gothic Rock, Dark Rock, Ambient
Tracklist:
01. Ad Gladium
02. The Last Day (feat. Inkubus Sukkubus)
03. Bloodlust (feat. Sanna Keltaniemi)
04. Deepland (feat. Vlad Janicek and Lisa Miles)
05. Inquisition
06. Flowers Of Evil
07. Sacrament For Three
08. Black Moon
09. The Void Stares Back At You (feat. Ariel Maniki)
10. Penny Dreadful I (The Beast Within)
11. Penny Dreadful II (Ghost Story)
The cult gothic rock band Two Witches is back after seven years! The band, which should be considered as one of the originators of gothic rock as we know it today, started its path back in 1987. Two Witches was founded by Jyrki Witch and Anne Nurmi, who in 1993 left the band and joined the mighty Lacrimosa, and accept it or not, Anne's leaving brought the name Two Witches for many out of the shadows to a broad audience. Today Two Witches are still on the mission to spread the horror, deviant philosophy and vampiric tales, still guided by iconic frontman Jyrki Witch, together with Miss Blueberry (keyboards, back vocals) and Marko Hautamäki (guitars, bass, programming, back vocals).
The Undead is a follow up to in 2014 released album Goodevil which got a pretty positive response from the media and fans alike. Even though that Two Witches remain an underground band and are often overlooked, they are seriously kicking some asses with their turbulent rendition of pure and proud goth rock music. The Undead doesn't bring any drastic changes if compared to Goodevil, but I find it more addictive since the tracks are more dynamic, gloomy, with many catchy refrains, and in a way, it's a bit more captivating. Maybe because of some special guests like Candia and Tony McKormack (Inkubus Sukkubus), violinist Lisa Miles (Jesucrisis), Sanna Keltaniemi (Chaos Research), Ariel Maniki (Ariel Maniki And The Black Halos), and the legendary Vlad Janicek (The Nosferatu, Vampyrean). The album gets more versatility, but it doesn't change the thing that much because all of the 11 tracks form a massive compact totality that often switches between energetic dark power and haunting moody atmospheres.
There's no special philosophy, at least in the first half. In the beginning, the album kicks off with pulsating danceable rhythms, deep, reverberate basses and electronic beats, sparkling guitars, gloomy synths and powerful yet timbre vocals. The rocking and driving "Ad Gladium", followed by "The Last Day", are a good introduction to an album that offers a lot of drama. There are more hard-driving tracks in here, like the screamer "Inquisition", the heavy guitar-driven "Flowers Of Evil" with a very tasteful riff, and the bouncy thumping "Sacrament For Three" that has kind of a Ramones feel. It doesn't get boring at all, even when the more moody or cinematic elements come into the forefront. "Bloodlust", featuring guest vocals by Sanna Keltaniemi, is a mellow gothic/horror vampirism in its excellence, with a rather doomy eerie atmosphere and fantastic vocal performance. It's one of the most agitating tracks on The Undead. I can't skip mentioning the hypnotic "Deepland" with deep murky pathos and vivacious, punkish rhythms, which features Vlad Janicek and Lisa Miles on the drilling violin.
The last part of the album is my favourite one. It presents the darker side of Two Witches with broody and sombre tracks that have a special cinematic horror feel. "Black Moon" is a simple, slow-paced yet sparkling typical moody gothic rock track with mesmerizing synth arrangements. There are strange and unconventional additions in many of the tracks and add a surplus. Like for example in the ambient, murky drama named "The Void Stares Back At You", featuring Ariel Maniki, who also wrote the lyrics. A similar, but even more ghastly ambient mood continues in the cinematic gothic/horror narrative story named "Penny Dreadful I (The Beast Within)" and "Penny Dreadful II (Ghost Story)", which perfectly ends this album.
Two Witches returned in a great style. Even though that the album was released already in June, I don't see that it got the attention it deserves. Maybe this is because it was released by Brazilian yet esteemed label Deepland Records, and it lacks some more European exposure, who knows. Nevertheless, even if the legendary Finns don't bring something new to the palette of gothic music, they made a very good album. The Undead is full of contrast and diversity and has some potential goth hits that can be spun in any dark/goth club or tracks that fit when relaxing with a glass of wine in your solitude. It has rhythmic tracks to dance on and those creepy haunting, austere atmospheric/cinematic ones. Two Witches are stylistically placed somewhere between the UK's goth tradition, USA's death/dark rock rawness and German goth innovations, is a unique living cult act that still knows how to make audacious and enjoyable yet fresh dark music.
The review was written by Tomaz
Rating: 8/10
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