Witches of Doom | Funeral Radio

by Derric Miller
— Managing Editor —

Italy’s Witches of Doom just wailed a clarion call to all of Heavy Metal with their new release, Funeral Radio. The whole damn album is like a mic drop. Unexpected, brave, melodically metal, brooding and foreboding, it puts a spin on your regular Doom or Gothic Metal sound by bringing in elements of Modern Rock as well. Funeral? It sounds like a rebirth …

“Master of Depression” is the first channel you tune into, a throbbing, Zakk Wylde like rocker, albeit grungier. Singer Danilo Piludu owns a gravelly, deep, throaty weapon, and while it first you may wonder if there’s much flexibility to such a testosterone laden vocal style, you find out later there sure as hell is. Noisy, combative, and cool, “Master of Depression” rips off the band aid with aplomb.

“Coma Moonlight” is going to make you think of Black Sabbath and Type O’ Negative. Yes, it’s that good. The verses just churn along, the chorus clangs with riveting speed, and drummer Francesco Ciacciarelli pummels with frantic, expert glee.

The title track is another groove acid trip. ‘Funeral Radio” somehow soothes and exacerbates all in one song. A few peeps will compare this to Monster Magnet, but hell, Monster Magnet never created anything this listenable.

You’ll hear some radio sounds, like AM radio trying to land on a channel, on “Ghost Train.” Now, where they hinted at Type O’ Negative as an influence before, this is so close it sounds like a cover. Just because it is so derivative it seems like cheating to call it the “best” song on the album, but it has everything going for it, from vocals to lyrics to musicianship. And truly, it isn’t even the best song here anyway …

“Hotel Paranoia” is the last program on Funeral Radio, and there is something hypnotically addictive to this composition. If you like a song, you’ll go back to it a few times, but you can listen to this over and over and find something new to glom onto. The strange yet cool part is guitarist Federico Venditti, who mostly riffs his way through the songs, paints a melodic solo, like a slowed down Power Metal passage, which somehow makes sense amongst the noisy madness. Piludu offsets the melodic guitar with harsh growls … “Hotel Paranoia” has everything. It’s catchy as hell too.

Funeral Radio, and Witches of Doom in general, should be something you listen to again and again. How they’ve escaped Hardrock Haven’s cyclopic glare this long is anyone’s guess, but now that the faithful have tuned in, it’s time to find new musical life in Funeral Radio as well.

Genre: Doom/Gothic/Stoner/Heavy Metal

Band:
Saiax (bass)
Francesco Ciacciarelli (drums)
Federico Venditti (guitars)
Danilo “Groova” Piludu (vocals)

Tracklisting:
1. Master of Depression (04:43)
2. Coma Moonlight (04:46)
3. Queen of Suburbia (04:46)
4. Funeral Radio (06:55)
5. Sister Fire (04:55)
6. Ghost Train (04:16)
7. November Flames (06:00)
8. Hotel Paranoia (07:28)

Label: My Kingdom Music

Online:
https://www.facebook.com/witchesofdoom

Hardrock Haven rating: (8.4 / 10)