An Introduction
In 2018, two brothers from France formed a band, which they named Depressive Witches. Their debut album titled “Bad Flask” was one of my favourite albums of 2021. And I’m glad that they released a new album fairly quickly, the new album is titled “Distant Kingdoms” and is available in digital and CD formats.
Album Overview:
The new album is released in digital format only (for now) and can be purchased via Bandcamp, the album contains 9 new tracks.
- Distant Kingdoms
- In the Hall of the Sleeping King
- Oh, My Dear Wyvern
- Wizard! Open the Gates!
- Pit of Goblins
- Tonight I Will Hide My Heart in Space
- Forgotten Icebergs
- Cancel Your Wedding and Fuck the Witch
- A Land to Lead
If you like their previous album, this album won’t disappoint you, it has the same vibe to it as “Bad Flasks”. The mix is excellent and all the instruments sound as they should, it’s all just in balance (at least to my ears it is).
Track-by-Track Review:
We start off with “Distant Kingdoms”, and as soon as the intro is over, you hear the heavy black n’ roll sound that I loved about the first album. The vocals are sharp and with the track/album very well, it’s a great start of the album.
Next up is the “In the Hall of the Sleeping King”, it starts off slow with some heavy guitar and bass, and builds up a nice atmosphere. I just love the overall sound of this band.
But the third track of the album, titled “Oh, My Dear Wyvern” is one of my favourite tracks of the album. It starts with some pummelling drums and when the vocals kick in it gives off a nice vibe. Just check out this song, it has everything too it, black metal and a rock ‘N roll groove.
Onwards to “Wizard! Open the Gates!” This is probably the song that fits the beautiful album art the most. The track starts off slow with a rock n role vibe. Like the other tracks, it just sounds very well-made and has a nice groove to it.
“Pit of Goblins“, starts off with some mining sounds. After a while, a heavy bass sets in with some drums, you just feel like you are in a mine with numerous goblins. The pace starts off very slow, but picks up later on. But overall, this song is much slower than the rest of the songs on the album. But ultimately, it’s one of my favourite songs on the album.
After the slow tempo of the Pit of Goblins, the pace starts to pick up with “Tonight I Will Hide My Heart in Space” but it’s still a song with a lower pace, I do like the vocals and the lyrics of this song, for example the quote below, it just has a nice feel to it.
Stars
The things you wish
Fight or to conquer
That’s the way
“Forgotten Icebergs” could be a song about the Titanic, but it isn’t. The song has the same groove too it as most of the other songs too it, but it feels a bit like a filler song (it’s also one of the shortest songs on the album).
And now the track with the one stellar title; “Cancel Your Wedding and Fuck the Witch” the song starts off heavy and groovy, the vocals are great (like on the rest of the album). The tone of the song reminds me a bit of Sisters of Mercy, and that’s not a bad thing. The lyrics are short and are repeated over the course of the song.
For the last song, we listen to “A land to lead”. This song has a very different kind of vibe too it and is way more folky than the rest of the albums. It feels a bit off with the rest of the album, but the track itself sounds great, and if the brothers decided to make a folk album, I would certainly listen too it.
It is a land to lead
Glorious battles to win
Many monsters to fight,
Making them spit an ashen sigh
Conclusion:
Overall, I loved the album, for me, the first album is the better album of the 2 albums released so far, but it’s still a very decent album. I’m looking forward to what they come up with for their third album, but that will probably take a while before that’s released.
If you like Black ‘N Roll this album will be just the thing for you for me, this is one of the better bands in the subgenre, but you should check it out yourself and form your opinion about that. You can listen to the album below:
