Release Date: February 13th 2026. Record Label: Self Released. Formats: DD
Dopelich - Tracklisting
1.Dopelich 05:57
2.Bastard 05:24
3.Glass Eye 09:57
4.Witchcult 75 09:11
Members
Dustin Morgan - Vocals and guitar
Matt Page - Vocals and Guitar
James Castellaw - Bass and Lyrics
Myk Robinson - Drums
Review
Dopelich is the debut EP from Doom/Stoner Metallers Burnt Witch who inject a rebellious strand of Southern Metal grooves into their WEEDIAN sound. The whole EP is full of NOLA based hallucinogenics and sounds where you can hear bands such as DOWN and CROWBAR regularly with Burnt Witch weaving their own great style of Doomed Out flavour along the way.
The EP is quite sadistic with harsh vocals and eerie instrumental passages which sees Burnt Witch tap into other areas of HEAVY METAL and apply a violent Sludge Metal makeover to them especially on the tracks Dopelich, Bastard and Witchcult. This sounds like the after effects of coming down from a very bad WEEDIAN trip where you’re faced by the grim reality of your actual living situation. Though, there’s something very powerful and deeply engaging about it all with Burnt Witch developing a real destructive style of intense melody and epic down-tuned grooves which are delivered with real primal fury.
Another highlight of the record is Burnt Witch exploring areas of Proto-Metal, Classic Heavy Metal and Psych Metal whilst keeping with their violent interplay of AMPLIFIER DISTORTION and LOW & SLOW based sludgy soundscapes with that smoky WEEDIAN atmosphere. Burnt Witch also takes the listener into unexpected areas of Classic Rock and Blues Rock that suddenly appear out of nowhere.
The two standout tracks on the EP have to be the final tracks of Glass Eye and Witchcult where Burnt Witch use every Stoner Metal trick in the book to provide a thrilling style of music that has epic moments of NOLA heaviness with flashes of drugged out vocals and sublime lyrics to match. You can even detect small traces of classic Grunge behind the scenes with Burnt Witch not finishing adding other genres of music into the final mix which makes this quite an addictive record from start to finish.
Burnt Witch have released an absolutely stunning debut EP which I can’t recommend highly enough. For a debut EP, this is about as great as it gets especially if you’re a long time follower of the Doom/Stoner/Sludge Metal scene. I’m genuinely excited to hear where Burnt Witch go next as these guys are the real deals and I can only see these guys becoming an essential part of the underground scene if they keep releasing great records such as this.
WOW!!! - Add this to your collection now.
Words by Steve Howe
Links
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