 |
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| Bell Witch | ||
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 Bell Witch circa 2017. | ||
| Background information | ||
| Origin | Seattle, Washington, USA | |
| Genres | Funeral Doom Metal, Death/Doom, Doom Metal | |
| Years active | 2010 - Present | |
| Labels | Profound Lore Records | |
| Associated acts | Lethe, This Building Is Cursed, Samothrace, Wrekmeister Harmonies, Battlefields, Black Hole of Calcutta, The Makai, Transient, Morose, Shadow of the Torturer, Sod Hauler, Aerial Ruin | |
| Website | Bell Witch Facebook | |
| Current members | Dylan Desmond Jesse Shreibman | |
| Past members | Adrian Guerra | |
| Band Logo | ||
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Bell Witch are a funeral doom band from Seattle, Washington. Active since 2010, this duo composes a sound of bleak, punishing slows through a dirge-like yet eclectic sound. With "Longing" and "Four Phantoms" gaining critical praise and the band themselves touring around the world over the career it would be their 2017 effort "Mirror Reaper" that gained significant critical praise and made marks on numerous album of the year lists.
Their musical themes are heavily based in pain, suffering, death, ghosts and a general theme of the supernatural. The band's name itself derives from the haunting because "it's arguably the most infamous ghost story in formal United States history.".[1]
History
Bell Witch's original lineup performing at 2 Bit Saloon 13 March 2011.
Bell Witch's beginnings date back to 2010 when the group was founded by the duo of Desmond and Guerra in Seattle, both of whom previously played in an instrumental stoner band named Lethe. The duo would begin to compose a doom sound far unlike some of their previous efforts, drawing towards funeral doom like Ahab and Esoteric along with death/doom like Winter. Eventually in 2011 the band would play their earliest known shows, with the first show originally intending to be a one-off deal when Lethe was unable to perform. Eventually the group would begin performing more and releasing a self-titled demo on 3 October 2011, spanning 37 minutes. In support the band would tour the West Coast of the USA.
In an interview with Funeral Wedding, Adrian Guerra explained the origins of the group:
| “ | "We started this project to do only one show. Our good friend asked our old band Lethe to play, but we couldn’t. Our guitar player had left the band. Then we were asked how about just the two of us play. We were up for the challenge as we started rehearsing a week before our first show. Again, this was only suppose to be a “one off” show. We were not going to proceed on the project, but if felt right after our performance that we needed to continue. Or chose to continue for that matter. Dylan, and I had wanted to make heavier, and darker music. As Lethe was an instrumental sludge/stoner rock/psychadelic band. We have both have always been into the “doom” scene here in the United States from our previous bands and love for the genre.
So, after that first show we started rehearsing tremendously, and started writing our demo, and other songs that made it to our full-length. We were playing shows here locally in the Pacific Northwest (Seattle/Portland), and receiving good feedback. The “Demo 2011” was recorded in July 2011 in 3 days with our comrade Brandon Fitzsimons. Brandon also worked with all our previous bands, and has almost recorded everything I have done in the past amongst other great artists. As soon as we received our “Demo 2011” in the mail, we jumped in the van for our first West Coast Tour in October 2011." |
” |
— Adrian Guerra, Funeral Wedding[2]
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Eventually the group would be signed by Profound Lore Records in early 2012, beginning work on their debut studio album.
Discography
- Bell Witch (Demo) (2011, Self-Released)
- Longing (Studio Album) (2012, Profound Lore Records)
- Four Phantoms (Studio Album) (2014, Profound Lore Records)
- Mirror Reaper (Studio Album) (2017, Profound Lore Records)
Members
- Dylan Desmond - Bass, Vocals (2010 - Present)
- Jesse Shreibman - Drums, Vocals (2015 - Present)
- Adrian Guerra - Drums, Vocals (2010 - 2015; died 2016)
Tours
- November 2011 West Coast Tour (2011)[3]
- Longing United States Tour (2012)[4][5]
- 2013 European Tour (With Samothrace (2013)
- September 2013 USA Tour (With Windhand, Aerial Ruin on select dates) (2013)
- August 2014 West Coast Tour (With Ephemeros) (2014)
- 2015 European Tour (April/May) (With Profetus) (2015)
- 2015 East Coast USA Tour (2015)
- 2015 European Tour (October/November)(With Ulcerate) (2015)
- December 2015 USA Tour (With Wrekmeister Harmonies) (2015)
- Winter 2016 USA Tour (With Wrekmeister Harmonies, Pallbearer on select dates) (2016)[6]
- Western U.S. 2017 (With Intronaut) (2017)[7]
- Primitive Man & Bell Witch MMXVII (With Primitive Man, Monarch!) (2017)[8]
- Mirror Reaper European Tour (With Monarch!, Aerial Ruin) (2018)[9]
External Links
- MySpace
- Blogspot
- Bell Witch via Holy Mountain Printing
- Bandcamp
- Bandcamp article on the band
- Vice article on Mirror Reaper
- Metal Injection article on Mirror Reaper
- Interview via Indy Metal Vault
- Pitchfork Interview
- Stereogum article on Mirror Reaper</ref>
- Interview via The Obelisk
- Interview via Jimmy Cabbs
- Metalsucks review of Longing
References
- ↑ Wormwood ChroniclesAccessed 16 December 2017
- ↑ Funeral Wedding Interview: Bell Witch, accessed 16 December 2017
- ↑ MySpace
- ↑ Myspace
- ↑ Bell Witch Blogspot
- ↑ Bell Witch Facebook