Album Review: Witchskull – A Driftwood Cross

You’ll know whether you’re a fan of the crunching classic-metal purveyed by Witchskull within the first 20 seconds of this titanic third album’s pounding opener Black Cathedral. A massive, gouging riff hammers away, they skip a couple of beats, then, with a feral 'YES!', an even gnarlier riff explodes to the fore.

Following up monumental 2015 debut The Vast Electric Dark and 2018 follow-up Coven’s Will, the Canberra trio hold course with A Driftwood Cross, delivering driving Sabbath-worship and an intoxicating strain of trippiness.

Whether pounding pedal to the metal on Baphomet’s Child, delivering the atmospheric thump of This Silent Place or plumbing the darkness with the outstanding, infernal build of The Red Altar, these lads know how to get heads banging, fists pumping and malevolent spirits stirring.

By the sprawling title-track, they mightn’t have reinvented the wheel, but even the most jaded veteran will be reminded what made metal great in the first place.

Verdict: 4/5