Review: Bell Witch & Aerial Ruin ‘Stygian Bough: Volume II’
After five years, the Pacific Northwest doom ensemble Stygian Bough has returned with the follow-up to their 2020 debut, Volume I, with the aptly titled Volume II. Featuring both members of Bell Witch, Dylan Desmond (bass/vocals) and Jesse Shreibman (drums/organ/synthesizer), along with Aerial Ruin, the one-man, acoustic-doom alchemist Erik Moggridge (guitar/vocals).
The three musicians are regular collaborators, not only in Stygian Bough, but Moggridge also appeared on Bell Witch’s 2017 epic, much-revered release Mirror Reaper. Being a fan of that record as well as Aerial Ruin’s 2022’s Loss Seeking Flame, I was curious about this record, and dove right in.
Admittedly, I came into Stygian Bough with fresh ears, as Volume I, I come to find out, has been stranded in my always-expanding music wish list since my experience with Aerial Ruin. And so, I went into my review of Volume II untethered by expectations or comparisons, despite my past experience with these musicians, albeit limited.
Beginning with Waves Became The Sky, a colossal, emotional piece of music that features massive moments of crushing guitar and drums that are deftly balanced by the emotive parts, wherein the vocals are all at once heart-wrenching, yet ethereal. King Of The Wood creeps to life with a volume swell that gives way to massive, yet moving instrumentation, before drifting into an awesome, mellow breakdown that enhances the gravitas in Moggridge’s delivery and impact.
King Of The Wood proceeds to drift into the mellowest of twinkles, the sonic journey takes the listener to the next realm, with some super trippy, meditative passages, before coming back around with the proverbial funeral doom hammer. The guitar notes are enough to make even the most jaded of doomsters hang their heads in sorrow, and when the trio do pick up the pace towards the outro, with some riffage and doom-y shred, it makes the mellow passages seem all the more poignant.
a deluge of volume swells, bursts of guitar, bass, and feedback, all propelled by huge, rolling drums…
The second half of the album gets underway with From Dominion, beginning as a thoughtful, acoustic track, which left me wondering if the threesome was going to stay with this vibe for its eleven-plus minute duration. But the band proceed to unfurl into a cascade of drums, and heavy, emotive shredding from Moggridge that fades into a sorrowful organ passage, and back again. For my ears, this track served as the album’s centerpiece, featuring plenty of ambitious, creative build, powerful drums, sorrowful, yet triumphant shred, and all the emotional heft these musicians can conjure.
We reach the conclusion of this aural journey with the closer, The Told And The Leadened. In comparison to the rest of the album, it begins a bit more up-tempo – more doom, less funeral, if you will. That is until the midway point, where the band fluidly weaves into a great acoustic passage. From there, they bring the ‘funeral’ back with a sorrowful march that descends into a deluge of volume swells, bursts of guitar, bass, and feedback, all propelled by huge, rolling drums.
Admittedly, I’m not some sort of funeral doom aficionado, but to my ears, this record is a good definition of the genre; it has everything the funeral doom fan could want, and then some. The instrumentation and production are fantastic, with the drums being of particular note. Volume II is a lot to absorb, playing out as different movements of a cohesive musical journey rather than mere ‘songs’. However, it will definitely scratch the itch for fans of these musicians – and funeral doom in general – with sorrow to spare.
Label: Profound Lore Records
Bell Witch: Official | Facebook | Bandcamp | Spotify | Instagram
Aerial Ruin: Official | Facebook | Bandcamp | Spotify | Instagram
Scribed by: Martin Williams
