The past few years have produced a surge of new and exciting grindcore bands popping up all over. With so many bands trying to break out of the scene it can be refreshing when some start to shine through. Iowa’s Closet Witch released their first full length album on June 15th and it shows a lot of progress and polish from their first EP in the spring of 2015 (check out their second EP from later that year, Black Salt, it has a lot of really crushingly creative stuff to sink your teeth into).
Over the past few years Closet Witch has dramatically tightened up the riffs and grown a lot as a band. I do miss some of the spastic, chaotic guitar and bass work from their earlier releases (it’s still there to some degree) and the plethora of well executed samples. In their place Closet Witch has developed a very well thought out, expertly executed sound, and shows a tremendous amount of growth as musicians. The vocals by Mollie Piatetsky are so on-point for this album, she has obviously developed some incredible vocal control over the years and sits front, center, and dominating in the mix. Songs like “Rule by Bacon” and “Personal Machu Picchu” show off some of bands restraint, slowing down the speed of the traditional grindcore oeuvre and demonstrating their reach as musicians. These songs really pull the album together and make for a memorable album with depth and a range of emotions set up by their past works.
If you are a grindcore enthusiast this album is for you or if you are looking to dip a toe into an increasingly deep pool this is a fun place to start, at under 25 minutes it’s not a huge commitment, but well worth it.
