Wytch Hazel – IV: Sacrament (Bad Omen Records)
On 2018’s II: Sojourn, Wytch Hazel realised their early promise.
By 2020’s III: Pentecost, they’d taken their songcraft into the stratosphere. Spirit and Fire and Archangel demonstrated founding guitarist/vocalist Colin Hendra’s supreme writing skills, and the band’s growing confidence.
IV: Sacrament, however, is nothing short of celestial.
Lyrically rooted in Hendra’s Christian faith and sonically shaped by metal’s forebears, the record is a glistening well of sublime choruses and magisterial fretwork.
Angel Of Light rocks to Thin Lizzy’s infectious swagger.
Endless Battle, was surely born atop Glastonbury Tor during a thunderstorm.
Future Is Gold, driven by acoustic guitars, is a stirring hymn from the meadows of ancient Albion.
Indeed, bar some 21st century polish, IV: Sacrament could have been recorded at any point in the last 50 years.
A wonderful hybrid of classic rock and metal, it owes a debt to the likes of Wishbone Ash, Blue Öyster Cult and the NWOBHM movement, but Hendra draws his influences into a powerful, almost spiritual, force: these stories tell of the eternal struggle between good and evil, they’re hopeful, yet never shy away from the darkness. Wytch Hazel’s main man states that this is the most honest songwriting he’s ever done. One listen to the heartfelt Digging Deeper and that’s immediately obvious.
The next chapter for Wytch Hazel
How do Wytch Hazel fit into the contemporary metal scene? The Lancastrians are a long way away from the more riotous NWOTHM of Seven Sisters and Visigoth. Even further than most mainstream metal mag approved Download dwellers. But with bands such as Canadian duo Spell and pastoral Londoners Parish on the rise, the quartet find themselves in good company. And with IV: Sacrament now in their armoury, Hendra and his brothers deserve a much larger congregation.
Enjoyed this review? Check out our Best Trad Metal Albums of 2022 here.
Wytch Hazel photo by Sam Scott Hunter.
