Sea Witch endeavor to break through to the most sacred elements of doom; that’s why they stand out, in my mind. I’m not sure who these Ecferus fellas are but a friend of the witch is a friend o’ mine. Of Water & Wood is a coupling that produces one new track from SW, two collaborative cuts, and, in a strange twist, in addition to an Ecferus entry there’s a final song by Ecferus featuring Sea Witch. Huh? Whatever, that’s not what you’re going to focus on when you break up and ingest the elements of this release. Sea Witch are up to their usual tricks, attending the funeral of the world and providing accompaniment. When they team up with Ecferus it’s more of a Hell-ish experience, with strictly drawn-out doom passages dominating throughout. Then Ec-Fer take over and throw in a little black metal for good balance, culminating in the aforementioned ‘featuring Sea Witch’ track. This sucker proves to be one of the most compelling pieces of work on Of Water and Wood, adhering to a motif of relative subtlety (guitars cleaner than usual, lots of voice samples, no screaming) before a brief plunge into double-bass MADNESS that’s intensely satisfying and unexpected. Cloaked in black, wreathed in flame, Sea Witch / Ecferus, know thy name…
More about: Sea Witch / Ecferus, Sea Witch/Ecferus
