Now I've never smoked weed or taken any drugs besides prescription medicine and Flintstones gummies. If I were to hit off of whatever bong Witch Ripper has been huffing off, I'd probably get knocked out in seconds. Speaking of, Witch Ripper is a Washington-based stoner metal band that dabbles in the prog. They've been stoning and sludging around Seattle since 2012, but it wasn't until 2018 that they locked in and released "Homestead," their first full-length album. About a week ago, they released "Through The Hourglass," a third installment of their sound.

To put it simply, Witch Hunter sounds like the best metal jam band. I'm not sure if those even exist (outside of Umphrey's McGee, periodically), but they certainly do now. "Through The Hourglass" is a record that you listen to in a recliner, outside, with not a care in the world. Each beefy composition acts like a soundtrack for that chill part of your day. It's not overly abrasive, nor too soft and slow. Hell, this would be a great album to smoke to, and I'm sure that's 90% of the point. Witch Ripper's progressiveness doesn't come from complex, masturbatory shredding. Yes, Eck's drums are fiery at times, and there are some lengthy guitar noodles, but their prog emerges in the form of drawn-out song structures, where each track literally progresses in story, theme, and sound. Prog's older cousin, psychedelic rock, is also seen as an influence. There's noticeable fuzz and pedal-warping, and Parker's clean vocals assist such elements. His voice is clear and powerful, and he maintains it when he switches into his gutturals. They're not as frequent as I'd like, but there's really not much to complain about.

Witch Ripper's jam band antics are clear. The average track length (excluding the opening sequence) is about seven minutes, and in those minutes, the band explores sonic territories to the likes of my aforementioned genres, power metal ("Symmetry of the Hourglass), a little bit of alt ("Echoes and Dust"), acoustic space rock ("Proxima Centauri), and more. However, each one of these styles is melodic and easy to listen to. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this album, and while I admittedly may not have been listening as attentively as I do other records, I was swept away by melodicism, space, and a touch of brutality.

Witch Ripper doesn't seem to label themselves as stoner metal; sludge and progressive metal are what they embrace most. Metallum adds the stoner descriptor in there, so I took the ball bong and ran with it. Whatever you want to call it, "Through The Hourglass" is a solid album.