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OCCULT WITCHES
Mastermind

Self-released (2023)
Rating: 8/10

Don’t let the dreadfully corny band name put you off of what is essentially a tasty slice of psychedelic hard rock from Québec in Canada. My concern here is that this combo has arrived a little too late to the black mass because the sound they so wistfully create, although still a fad, was more the rage a decade or so ago.

You can slot this clan anywhere between Purson, Coven, Blues Pills, Octopus, Lucifer, Psychedelic Witchcraft and just about any other female-fronted occult rock act. Yep, it can be cliché to hear such haunting melodies and devil-driven grooves, but so much of this rock ‘n’ roll appeals to me.

I’ve not researched anything regarding Occult Witches and wanted the music herein to speak for itself, and it doesn’t disappoint. Naturally a band of this ilk will channel Black Sabbath (‘Midnight Cocaine / Ashes’) and let’s face it, it’s difficult not to, but the rolls of darkness rarely feel and sound formulaic. The vocals have a bewitching husk; rich in tone they slither with grace over the varying shades of 70s hard rock. At one moment there is a haunting quality, the next a gravelled fire so entrancing that you cannot help but dance towards the flames.

Mastermind is instantly accessible. Opener ‘Desire’ is stark in its instrumentation and devilishly bluesy when the weight is added. Sure, it is reminiscent of so many occult rock bands over the last decade, but you cannot help but jive along to the hop, skip and juggernaut doom jig of ‘Vow’ or the lumbering menace of the title track, whereas a song like ‘Mary’ boasts a fire n’ fizz that should conjure images of burning tarmac winding through scorching, barren land.

It’s all cool, hip and yet not as foreboding as the band moniker suggests, but for a night by the fire, on the town or around the Ouija board, this opus should suffice.

Neil Arnold

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