Hidden Gems & Guilty Pleasures: Witching Hour (Germany)
Witching Hour (Blackened Thrash/Speed Metal // Germany)
It’s been a long, strange trip for Witching Hour. Formed in 2006 in the southwest of Germany, the band’s earliest work tended toward paradigmatic blackthrash, particularly the Teutonic iteration of it. Their first two albums for Evil Spell Records – 2009’s »Rise Of The Desecrated« and especially 2011’s »Past Midnight…« – are prized artefacts of the deep underground, confidently portraying a unique and highly idiosyncratic form of blackened thrash.
And while releases have been patiently sparse during that time, they’ve been of uniformly high quality, all leading up to 2018’s pivotal third album, »…And Silent Grief Shadows The Passing Moon«. Here, Witching Hour staked their claim as some of thrash metal’s strongest songwriters with a narrative flow that was almost dream-like and a sound quite elevated from their humble beginnings. A career highpoint, to be sure, but silence then ensued…
Sequenced like a story and flowing with almost dream-like ease, »…And Silent Grief Shadows The Passing Moon« is the album whereby Witching Hour move from sepulchral blackthrash magick towards ancient metal mysticism. It all sounds as old as time itself, yet breathes and heaves with a positively invigorating freshness. Glorious and gloomy melodies gallop forward into the fog-choaked night, instilling an atmosphere that’s simply impossible to shake, but also latching their claws into the deepest, most emotional corners of the soul.
So it goes with Witching Hour, patience is rewarded with their long-awaited fourth album, »Descending… Where Time Has Ceased To Exist«. Much like its towering predecessor, Descending… comprises five epic tracks (plus instrumental intro) and, this time, exceeds the length by two minutes for a total of 44: a journey indeed awaits. In fact, the band recorded, mixed, and mastered the album at Journey into Eternity Studios, which is owned by drummer Sascha Bastian.
Ancient metal mysticism is the atmosphere that cloaks Witching Hour’s fourth album like ethereal chainmail. The grit of its predecessor has been slightly shined to a rustic gleam, of sorts, as the songwriting suitably grows more diversified and complex – and, even more uniquely, possessing a paradox of density and spaciousness. As each composition winds and wends on paths that are alternately mysterious, gloomy, and triumphant, the power-trio gallop with a confidence that’s compelling to the extreme; the narrative flow is more fluid than ever, drawing the listener deeper into the all-encompassing experience. That their riffing has grown even more (gloomily) melodic and the leads burn brighter than before simply underlines the band’s traditional metal foundations, particularly that of the NWOBHM.
To summarize and say that »Descending… Where Time Has Ceased To Exist« marries prog-rock structures to ancient heavy metal riffing & melody and draped in the atmosphere of pioneering German thrash and earliest black metal only explains half the brilliance of Witching Hour at this juncture – but it’ll perhaps encourage you to begin that journey!
Witching Hour’s highly anticipated fourth album, »Descending… Where Time Has Ceased To Exist«, will be released on May, 22nd, 2026 via Dying Victims Productions on CD and vinyl LP formats. Pre-order HERE.
Courtesy of Dying Victims Productions
Discography:
• »Arrival Of The Dark Throne« Demo (2007)
• »Rise Of The Desecrated« LP (Evil Spell Records, 2009)
• »Antichrist Warfare« Split (Evil Spell Records, 2010)
• »Past Midnight…« LP (Evil Spell Records, 2011)
• »Where Pale Winds Take Them High…« EP (Evil Spell Records, 2014)
• »They Walk Among Sepulchral Ruins« Demo (2017)
• »…And Silent Grief Shadows The Passing Moon« LP (Hells Headbangers Records, 2018)
• »Where Pale Winds Take Them High…« Compilation (Sun & Moon Records, 2021)
• »Descending… Where Time Has Ceased To Exist« LP (Dying Victims Productions, 2026)
Witching Hour is:
Jan Hirtz – Guitars, Vocals
Marco Justinger – Bass, Guitars
Sascha Bastian – Drums
FFO: Bewitched, Living Death, Mercyful Fate, Nifelheim, Desaster, Nocturnal, Hellish Crossfire, Cruel Force
Links:
Facebook | Instagram | Bandcamp1 | Bandcamp2 | Spotify
Bojan Bidovc // music enthusiast, promoter, misanthrop and sometimes a journalist as well