New Gospel of the Witches Track “The Alchemist” is Every Bit as Good as Ephel Duath

If you’ve been lamenting the loss of Ephel Duath you certainly have grounds to complain — band was awesome, no doubt — but chin up, sad sack! The creative nucleus of Karyn Crisis and Davide Tiso picks up right where they left off with their new project Gospel of the Witches.

GotW are every bit as good as Ephel Duath, and they sound similar enough: if I’d been told that Salem’s Wounds was the next Ephel Duath album I would never have questioned it. No disrespect meant to the other members of Gospel of the Witches, all of whom are immensely talented — Ross Dolan (Immolation), Mike Hill (Tombs) and Charlie Schmid (Vaura) — and all of whom brings their own flavor to the table. But lettuce by cereal: musically speaking, this music is not a far cry at all from Ephel Duath.

Late last year we got to hear the song “Mother,” and now we get another new one called “The Alchemist” that’s been given the video treatment. I’m LOVING this track — it’s got such a great guitar hook, and Crisis’ vocals are on-point — and I’m really digging the counterpoint that Dolan’s backup vocals bring to the table as well. If there’s one big difference I could point to between Ephel Duath and Gospel of the Witches, it might be that this new stuff is decidedly more measured and deliberate… I might even use the word “accessible.” And I mean that in a good way. Check it out below.

Salem’s Wounds comes out on March 9th via Century Media. Pre-order it here.