All Them Witches - Lightning at the Door (2016)

Whether they are blatantly ripping off a successful band or forging a new path in a genre, every band has its influences. Listening to All Them Witches, it is easy enough to see where these influences lay. Take a strong base in blues heavy rock a la Zeppelin, throw in some heavy psychedelic distortion reminiscent of early Sabbath, and wrap it all up with a flair for modernity that gives a nod towards The Black Keys. All of these combined together into an album that combines elegant musicianship with great song writing and is nicely paced to boot.
What really makes Lightning at the Door such an engaging listen is how the band manages to combine these various influences, which have all been rehashed to death, so seamlessly that they come out sounding fresh. Although one influence may be clearly prevalent during a certain song, "The Marriage of Coyote Woman" seems like a nod towards Dazed and Confused type Zeppelin song writing for example, the band never stray too far from their core sound and are all the stronger for it. Throughout the album the lines between rock and metal genres are blurred as what sounds like an alternative rock track in "Charles William" quickly explodes into a loud crescendo of stoner rock distortion so much that, when the album ends, you’re left wondering what exactly you just listened to. Was it alternative rock? Stoner rock/metal? Bluesy hard rock? In the end, such questioning is irrelevant as one thing is for sure, whatever it was, it was damn good. It finds a middle ground between all of these genres and features a little something for everyone’s tastes.
With this second album, All Them Witches have shown tremendous growth over their debut. The simple stoner alt rock formula they experimented with on Our Mother Electricity has been developed and fine tuned into something unique and fresh. The album remains engaging from beginning to end thanks to its countless twists and turns as it weaves in and out of the various sounds it encompasses. Lightning at the Door comes recommended for any fan of rock and metal.