Exclusive: Margarita Witch Cult Break Down the Doom/Psych Grooves of Their Self-Titled Album
If there ever was a day to enjoy the kind of fuzzy, psych-laden grooves found in Margarita Witch Cult’s forthcoming self-titled album, today would be the day. With tracks chock full of doom, sludge, and stoner metal influence, it would be a shame to not let the metal masses celebrating today’s hazy festivities get a listen before its official release tomorrow.
Thankfully, guitarist and vocalist Scott Vincent, drummer George Casual, and bassist Jim Thing are letting us share their new record in its entirety right now. But that’s not where it ends — the boys from Birmingham, U.K. are also giving us an in-depth look into the thoughts, feelings, and ideas that went into each track. Think of this like a director’s commentary track from a movie, only in audio and text form.
It makes perfect sense that a band like Margarita Witch Cult sounds the way they do, since they hail from the same city that had Black Sabbath ringing out in its streets all those years ago. So prepare for a great psych metal record that fluctuates between mid-tempo stoner rock, uptempo thrashy parts, and everywhere in between that makes for a great listen to keep you engaged while you’re couch locked.
Margarita Death Cult’s self-titled record will be out tomorrow April 21 via Heavy Psych Sounds Records, though you can still preorder your copy today.
Diabolical Influence
Scott: A live favourite of mine for sure, the riff is so catchy and deep and the chorus is shaping up to be a shout-along. How the song has been received is something of a dream result for a song that began life as a doomy sludge jam, out of the bog and onto a big stage with loads of pyro!
Death Lurks at Every Turn
James: More of a thrasher this one, and another descendant of the lo-fi session we did eons back. An absolutely classic drum roll intro and an irresistible, frenetic groove to the riff – but it’s the peppering of “DEATH” screamed throughout that is the poisoned cherry-on-top. One the whole family can gather and sing along to, arm-in-arm around the pyre.
The Witchfinder Comes
Scott: This was the first track I wrote for the band and we knew we were on to something when the groove clicked. It set out our stall thematically after some serious lockdown induced Amicus and Hammer horror binging. It’s a well ploughed road admittedly but it’s such a rich vein of imagery and the sense of dread looms large in our feel in all we play. We recorded it on cassette with a dimly lit video shot in our practice room and response led to everything great that’s happened since so the song is very special to us.
Be My Witch
George: Anthemic classic metal meets grunge tones and attitude. Vocal repetition prefacing every line as if it were a declaration of love over precise down-strummed aggression. Lyrically crooning for the macabre, we offer our hearts in submission to the very first societal pariah, the Witch. Our ode to grunge romance with Misfits overtones spiked with Van Halen sleaze. The simulated echo of the line ‘Witch’ in the chorus was quite a tricky element to learn but we nail it live!
Annihilation
George: A Motörhead thrash n’ roll ripper about war and the inevitable human toll. Set favourite for drums as its got a challenging drum fill for an intro, keeps me on my toes! Written as a short sharp shock for the album, we explore the horrifying fact that wars are only ever fought, not won. Somewhat of a protest song from the perspective of the losing side. Fight war, not wars!
Theme From Cyclops
George: Summoning the deep Bill Ward/[Tony] Iommi dynamic, playing the percussion laden “Children of the Grave” manic drum parts helped inspire the song! Total riff rock instrumental with tight transitions. A perfect cue for a mid set energy boost after the weight of earlier slower tunes. The title alludes to a theme song for our cyclops king on the album cover, unfortunately his sci-fi pilot got canned but his riffs live on!
Lord of the Flies
James: Certainly the most athletic track we’ve written to date, so much so that we had to move it further down to setlist to allow ourselves ample warm-up time. This track was somewhat the genesis of our dualling-guitar-and-bass approach, and is always an absolute blast to play live, even if it feels like we’re flying by the seats of our pants some nights…
Aradia
James: This one’s another reworking of a track found on our debut cassette demo, and has become our opening number live- setting the tone nicely with its blunderbuss of a drop-C riff. The original version had Scott reciting passages from C.G Leland’s “Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches”, but it was decided that his delivery was a little too Karl Pilkington for the subject matter.
Sacrifice
Scott: Sacrifice has our heaviest riff on the record by far and the intensity of it it is something I’ve always found physically exhausting to hear. The lyrics came from a bizarre Lovecraft-ian dream I had where a primitive tribe were kneeling in fear of a gigantic eye in the sky and it went from there. We also got the chance to offset the crushing bludgeon with by far the most tripped out breakdown with jazz soloing and plenty of tape delay.
