I love Metal success stories. Sadly, they are hard to find. I'm talking about a group of musicians that stick to their musical values, who are able to maintain a consistent lineup, who produce quality albums on a steady basis, and who grow and evolve but don't lose their edge. I'm not saying any of this is easy, which is the point. WITCHSKULL is one such success story. On June 16, 2023, they dropped their fourth studio album, "The Serpent Tide." It's a searing follow-on from their 2020 "A Driftwood Cross" which, in turn, was an impressive progression from their 2018 "Coven's Will" which was a formidable sophomore to their 2015 debut, "The Vast Electric Dark." The point is, WITCHSKULL isn't just a consistently good band, they are a band that continues to get better and heavier over time.

WITCHSKULL is a Doom Metal trio hailing from Canberra, the capital of Australia. Thematically they tend to focus on occult themes, but not in a heavy-handed way. We're not talking Satanic ritualists or Hammer Horror kitsch mongers. Some people refer to them as Stoner Metal, and indeed the Venn diagram between Doom and Stoner has significant overlap. Equally, some classify them as Rock; others Metal. They did a cover of an AC/DC song, "Sin City" but you can also find them on Metal Archives. In the end, genres and subgenres are the product of marketers, and it always comes down to what the band delivers. In this case it's leaden boots of lethal Doom.

Closing in on a decade with the same lineup, the band is extremely tight. There is an internal consistency and fluidity of style, with each musician taking ample space to showcase their significant skills individually and collectively. You can hear this on tracks like "Misery's Horse," where every band member weaves in and out of center stage, oscillating from unified assaults to killer breaks. You'll savor Tony McMahon's bass breaks just as much as Marcus De Pasquale's guitar solos as well as when Joel Green (drums) strafes in a percussive attack that carries more explosive power than the riff itself.

Not a single bad track on this album, so I'll just call out some of my favorites. "Tyrian Dawn" makes my list because it tells you right from the outset that WITCHSKULL has lost no momentum and that the album is set to terminal velocity. Next on my list is "Bornlesss Hollow" with Joel setting the groove-laden tempo which the band intermittently fuses then cracks, fuses, cracks before cascading into a Doom lava flow. I already mentioned "Misery's Horse." I love the breaks and multiple movements compressed into this sub-four-minute track. It's like the Tardis: small from the outside, expansive from within. While it would be easy and predictable for me to pick the closing track as my final selection, I'm going to circle back to track two and call it "Obsidian Eyes." From the lo-fi intro that rapidly escalates into a full-spectrum, unrelenting onslaught to the visceral, soaring vocals, this is quintessential WITCHSKULL.

Final items. I love the simple, graceful cover-scratchy gold on black orphic iconography and gothic fonts. The production values are also strong as ever. And finally, the band's songwriting continues to strengthen in proportion to their increasing heaviness. Some very interesting compelling going on here.

When WITCHSKULL emerged in 2015, a lot of critics and reviewers heralded them out as an up-and-coming force to reckon with. Eight years on and all those people have been proven right. Again, I love Metal success stories. WITCHSKULL, "The Serpent Tide"-highly recommended.