Band: Hadewijch
Title: Herbal Noise
Label: Electric Valley Records
Style: Doom, Post-Rock
Release Date: May 8, 2020
This French trio have unleashed their EP Herbal Noise upon the world, the entirety of the record containing one singe track, “Salvia,” which runs almost nineteen minutes long. During the course of this song, the band runs the gamut of Stoner, Blues, Dream-Pop, Shoegaze, and Drone. That’s a lot to mix together but a track this long kind of demands it; otherwise the song could grow stale and boring. Hadewijch keep it anything but, as they let the song unfurl in what feels a very natural and vibrant way, like a flower blooming. There are risings and fallings, soft passages that drift along before crashing into riffs that thunder and then fade into sweet melodic solos. This definitely isn’t a dark record, as the themes seem to be about growth and light and becoming one with the inner consciousness, so fans of that kind of Doom may not find much here to their liking. But those that like more ethereal concerns, bordering on magickal and the occult, will enjoy this. And again, the 18+ minutes just fly by, effortless and entrancing.
Fans of Bell Witxh, Earth, and Yob will definitely find something to their liking here. If this is any indication of what’s to come, Hadewijch is a band to be on the watch for.
The Wizard Has Spoken!
Four Wands out of Five