Bell Witch, the renowned doom metal band from the Pacific Northwest, has been defying conventional expectations of music structure for over a decade. Rather than seeking catharsis, the band’s music slowly moves through time, creating a trancelike sense of eternity. Their music invokes both boundlessness and claustrophobia, creating a sense of timelessness in an increasingly frenetic media culture.
Today, Bell Witch has announced the release of their new album, “Future’s Shadow Part 1: The Clandestine Gate.” This single, 83-minute track pulses and breathes on a cinematic timeframe, much like their lauded 2017 album, “Mirror Reaper.” “The Clandestine Gate” is the first part of a planned triptych of longform albums, collectively titled “Future’s Shadow.”
“Eventually, the end of the last album will be looped around to the first to make a circle,” says bassist Dylan Desmond of the triptych. “It can be continuously looped, like a day cycle. This would be dawn. The next one would be noon. The following one would be sundown, with dawn and sundown both having something of night.”
Bell Witch’s new album, “Future’s Shadow Part 1: The Clandestine Gate,” sees the band experimenting with new compositional weights and vocal strategies. The album features a greater emphasis on organ and synthesizer, with a slower pace that allows themes of eternal return and life’s fleeting nature to simmer in a somatic and embodied way. The album’s glacial pace is inspired by the films of Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky and the concept of eternal return as described by Nietzsche.
By slowing down both their creative process and the tempo of the music, Bell Witch creates a sense of time outside of time, a chord that echoes without resolution. “The Clandestine Gate” is the first chapter in a planned triptych of longform albums, collectively called “Future’s Shadow,” and is both the beginning and end of a yawning orbit around an increasingly massive core.
Today Bell Witch have also announced an exclusive, one-off performance in which they will perform Future’s Shadow Part 1: The Clandestine Gate in full this Friday, April 21 on the main stage at renowned Dutch festival Roadburn in Tilburg, The Netherlands. Desmond tells, “We have always had incredible experiences at Roadburn and cannot think of a better place for the live debut of our new record. We can’t wait to return to their stage on Friday for the premiere performance of The Clandestine Gate.” For more info, click here.
The Quietus recently spoke to Desmond about The Clandestine Gate – read the interview in full HERE.
Future’s Shadow Part 1: The Clandestine Gate sees its release across all digital retailers on Friday, April 21 and physical (CD, Cassette, Vinyl) on June 9 via Profound Lore.
