Witchskull blend NWOBHM laced traditional doom with the aggression that you would expect a 3-piece Australian band to deliver. This energy, coupled with an authentic insight into the occult to create mesmerising lyrics, has won the band plenty of interest worldwide.
The story essentially began in 2015 with the band intending to record a demo at Melbourne’s Goatsound Studios with Jason Fuller (Blood Duster), and ended up recording 8 songs that became their debut album The Vast Electric Dark…In just 3 days.
With no expectations the album went on to top the storied Doom Charts, received an incredible boutique vinyl release through America’s STB label, and received a worldwide release through Ripple Music to a slew of album of the year nods and rapturous reviews.
Buoyed by this response, the band considerably upped the ante for their second album, Coven’s Will.
Travelling to New York’s Studio G in Brooklyn with one of doom metal’s best producer/engineers Billy Anderson (Sleep, Eyehategod, Cathedral), and their 'right hand man' Jason Fuller, the band set out to make the album they always wanted. Live to tape, no click tracks and most tracks captured in one take. The results speak for themselves. Pure, in-your-face, no frills traditional doom metal delivered with primal aggression.
At the end of the recording process, Witchskull made its international live debut headlining New York’s famed St Vitus Bar.
Coven’s Will struck a chord with several international labels, but once an offer from Lee Dorrian’s revered Rise Above Records arrived, the choice was simple.
The album was released in June 2018 and received overwhelmingly positive reviews, including a full page spread in the universally acclaimed metal bible ‘Metal Hammer’.
Witchskull unleashed videos for both ‘Raven’ and ‘Breathing Blue Light’ from Coven’s Will.
The following 18 months were spent touring Australia and New Zealand and writing the follow up for Coven’s Will. It was decided that the northern hemisphere was going to have to wait a little longer to witness the band live.
Late 2019 saw Witchskull enter the studio to record their 3rd (second for Rise Above Records) offering, titled A Driftwood Cross, released in April 2020. A video for ‘This Silent Place’ was released and reviews heralded the album as the bands finest to date. More extensive touring throughout Australia was undertaken before writing commenced for their highly anticipated 4th album.
September 2021 saw the band enter Toyland Studios in Melbourne to record the AC/DC track Sin City for Magnetic Eye Records “Best of AC/DC” tribute. Witchskull’s interpretation was a looser more feral rendition of the masters original, which managed to stay true enough to the songs roots, yet allow their own style to shine through.
In May 2022 the band began recording of their 4th album The Serpent Tide for Rise Above Records, with Jason Fuller once again in charge of production. The album was released in June 2023 and a groundswell of interest is already underway. It is the bands heaviest instalment to date, and once again showcases, through their song writing and live performances, why Witchskull have become one of the most genuinely intriguing and bludgeoning bands in the scene today.
The band have once again delivered the goods on every level, and are set to leave a significant scar!