Witchsorrow sounds like Cathedral if Lee Dorian sold his soul to Belial, crawled his way back from Hell, and then wrote songs about his experiences in damnation. "God Curse Us" is only the second album from this British trio, but the doom metal magic they conjure throughout this harrowing opus honors the vision of black-robed sorcerers encompassing a human sacrifice, summoning auras of an occult atmosphere and remaining totally loyal to the works of Black Sabbath, Pentagram, Cathedral, and other lords of doom. There is no attempted advancement on the behalf of Witchsorrow; the album is merely taking the oldest form of metal and bringing it back into a shadowy land of forlorn, hopeless misery that neglects all that is light."God Curse Us" is around fifty-five minutes long and includes six gigantic doom cuts with a creepy interlude used to segue between two of the unhallowed chapters provided by Witchsorrow. Overall, "God Curse Us" is unusually consistent and addictive, given that the band's style makes no attempt to radically shift doom metal's usual pattern, but instead pays tribute to its innovators. A good number of tracks start off with a mega-slow pattern gruelingly milking every drop of its dark, atmospheric usefulness before Witchsorrow boots an unexpected mid-paced section right in your face. Of course, the album is heavier than a million dead elephants, and the massive sound produced by the glorious production remains clear, mythical, and certainly brutal.
It takes a village of idiots to screw up honest doom worship like this, but Witchsorrow stands out because they've established some unique fissures hiding between the cracks of "God Curse Us." For one, Necroskull (his parents weren't very creative) strikes hard with razor-sharp vocals which make this reviewer think of Lee Dorian, and during the faster parts he unleashes a semi-shriek over the bruising earthquake; his individualistic croons appear to have a positive presence over Witchsorrow's general blueprint. I also noticed a handful of the percussion patterns (especially during "Aurora Atra") deviate from the bass-snare patterns most doom bands fall into when dramatically slowing the pace, so in the end, I feel like they've made something that has a lot of replay value and substance.
In fact, I'd say Witchsorrow's brew rocks the socks off of most doom metal records I've heard from 2012, or even 2011 for that matter. The whole melting pot tastes like sin and gold, melted together in an alchemistic precision so faithful and firm on what it believes, what it stands for, and gladly acknowledging where it came from. "God Curse Us" defines all that is heavy, diabolical, sinister, infectious and deadly within doom metal, and I suggest you give this devilish release a whirl if you desire the magic of Black Sabbath, Pentagram, Cathedral or perhaps Electric Wizard. You can trust Witchsorrow; they will deliver the goods regardless of your intentions.