EP Review: The Holy Water EP by Witnesses (Self Released)

Witnesses bring the doom to Bram Stoker’s Dracula with their brand new EP titled The Holy Water due out on the 15th July this year.

Witnesses is the cross-genre project of multi-instrumentalist Greg Schwan. Following the cinematic release IV, The Holy Water EP sees long-time collaborator Gabbi Coenen venture into the metal side of the project. Entranced into the music through emotive vocals, heavily distorted guitars and a blood chilling atmosphere, Witnesses iconic compositional style brings the Gothic narrative to life. Become immersed in the haunting expanse of soundscapes. With a creeping pace the release conveys the instrumental layers and lyrics further into focus, entwining the barbaric and the sublime.

The Holy Water EP from Witnesses embraces doom metal to divine a sound with a ghostly vastness. The EP depicts the characters Lucy Westenra and Mina Harker, of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, from different perspectives.

Speaking about The Holy Water EP, Greg Schwan states:

The Holy Water EP was something that came about unexpectedly. I wrote “Borgo Pass” late last year as an experiment. I liked the result and felt the song needed a complement, and so “Cloistered in Purfleet” was born shortly thereafter. On this release, the atmosphere is up and the pace is down, and I’m tapping into some different influences this time around. 

Gabbi Coenen is on vocals with Greg looking after pretty much everything from guitars, to bass, to drums, to lyrics, mixing and mastering with Matt Kozar also featuring on the Ebow.

Photography for the album is courtesy of Woodland Ascension.

Borgo Pass delivers intensity with a dramatic feel. A dirty explosion of crunchy guitars literally made me jump when it came in. It’s fuzzy, deep and dark with slow riffing and even slower drum thumps. Hauntingly beautiful vocals come in singing sorrowfully and clean creating a nice mix. The doom drops away slightly to leave a sweet melody, though one that still feels immensely sad. The whole song is sad, deep and dramatic with increases in the volume and weight of the music, drops back to melody all playing off the gorgeous vocals nicely. It is a slow, feeling song, so expect to listen, enjoy and absorb it – this isn’t one to head bang to.

Cloistered in Purfleet has an atmospheric start before those achingly beautiful vocals come in, softly singing over gentle, almost absent music. It picks up, not in pace but in depth and thickness as the song progresses with huge sweeping riffs enhancing the track cautiously. Big, deep, bassy thumps and a slightly quickened drum beat combine with the vocals to create an intriguing and intensely dark song.

The Ballad of Lucy and Mina closes out The Holy Water EP and has Witnesses showcase instrumental skills and composition of the highest order. A short track, at just under 2 minutes long, it is just really nice, haunting melodic piece that would work just as well as an intro, as it does an outro.

The Holy Water EP is a gorgeous listen, deep and thought provoking with beautiful and dark instrumentation and the mesmerising vocals of Gabbi Coenen. If you like your doom to be slow, dark soundscapes that play off of feeling, not pace or noise, this is going to be your jam. It’s not always mine. I appreciate and respect it immensely but it is very slow and that isn’t always what I lean towards. It is beautiful though – full of depth and Witnesses really showcase immense talent across the release. The Holy Water EP is worth your time. Just don’t expect to come out of it feeling upbeat or energised.

Grab a preorder of The Holy Water EP from Witnesses on Bandcamp here.

Witnesses Links

Bandcamp – Spotify – Facebook – Twitter – YouTube