Cauldron of the Wild

If you were into "South of Salem", Witch Mountain's earlier release this year, then you'll be into "Cauldron of the Wild" as well. First, the recording and production sounds great and the packaging is attractive, including an 8 page booklet with full lyrics and some pretty cool photos of the band and a very "witch mountainish" setting. On to the music - vocalist Uta Plotkin's vocals sound great throughout, ranging from clean, soaring, and powerful to growling and gutteral, although the latter is used sparingly and is certainly tolerable and fitting in the sections where she uses it. I'm happy to hear her going into that area, as she doesn't at all on "Salem", but it suits the music well here. The drums and bass provide powerful support to the overriding guitar and vocal performances, and it all works together to set a tone of heavy, plodding, doom. The song writing is good and the songs are appealing - really more of the same, largely, as "Salem" delivered, and that's generally a pretty good thing. They perhaps don't play around with rhythms as much as in "Salem" or as much as I was hoping for, but still the songs are all good and provide a good platform overall for this band to deliver their distinctive sound and feel. This is heavy, driving doom with mostly soaring female vocals overtop and well executed guitar solos. Really good release and I go to it often, along with "South of Salem", and I've ended up seeing these as kind of twin or complimentary releases - all good!

Heard this band for the first time when they opened a show for Nik Turner's Hawkwind. Awesome live band! Immediately went and bought all of their studio material. Found out that was their last tour with Uta on vox. Disappointing! The 3 Witch Mountain cds with Uta singing will always be real gems in my music collection. Highly recommended!

I can't get Uta Plotkin's voice out of my head, it reminds me a lot of Heart's Ann Wilson. Her voice explodes over the droning doom riffs, and the album sounds like it was recorded with the makes-you-feel-warm-inside analog vinyl.

Good--the riffs and singing.

I bought and gave this album as a gift. It is being enjoyed, but I have never heard it myself.

Not the best recording I own, but the CD does grow on you with each new listening. Interesting metal music and it will broaden your musical horison.

Second album in a year? Yes please! Since all these tracks were written by the new lineup instead of the first album, which was all older material, this album has a different lyrical style. The new direction of the lyrics combined with a more varied tempo across the tracks makes this album all the better.

The Doom genre is built on the backs of giants, none bigger than Black Sabbath. Many bands have the elements in place to perform Doom the way it was meant to be, and many more don't. What's missing from the have-nots, is a dedication and an appreciation for the blues. Witch Mountain are students of rock and roll, rhythm and blues oozes from their collective pores. This makes Cauldron of the Wild an infinitely more accessible album than their peers. They understand the quiet/loud dynamic. They've mastered the clean passages. They build songs from the ground up and the listener hangs on in anticipation for the explosive payoff in each track. The vocals are gorgeous and a perfect counter balance to the low end thundering of the rhythm section. The riffs are immaculately heavy, with enough nuance and variation to show a band with real skill and musical know-how. Much like their northwestern brethren, Yob, Witch Mountain retain a certain heavy metal credibility, that make long compositions interesting throughout. There is something extremely satisfying about hearing a beautiful woman belting out the blues over top of a super heavy band! This isn't the heaviest or most extreme Doom Metal album, but what it lacks in power it more than makes up for in competent songwriting and beautiful arrangements. This is an excellent album and awesome all around package, well worth your time and money!