Death becomes the stoner-rock searchers in Windhand
Metal band records with celebrated producer. Not much of a headline, frankly. Hardly a reason to even bat an eyelash. Happens all the time. But when that metal band is Richmond, Va., doom quintet Windhand and the producer is the legendary Jack Endino, the results are enough to rocket you and all of your hesher friends straight to the record store. Grief’s Infernal Flower is the band’s third album and one of the most dynamic metal records of the year, capturing the visceral physicality of Windhand’s live performances with nuance and energy. It’s as raw and gnarly, sinewy and beautiful as anything happening in music today.
“There’s not really any Hollywood vibe or any shit like that,” says guitarist Asechiah Bogdan of working with Endino, whose status as heavy-rock royalty was cemented by turning knobs for nobodies like Nirvana and High On Fire. “What’s there is there, and I think that’s sort of a metaphor for us as well.”
What’s there are big, burly ri ffs unfurling at a glacial pace, wide-open spaces filled with hazy atmospheres, and melodies so strong that they can be stretched long past the point where others would snap. But for all of the big sludgy monsters on Grief’s Infernal Flower, the heaviest moments (“Sparrow” and “Aition”) come when things are stripped back to an acoustic guitar and vocalist Dorthia Cottrell’s soul-chilling pipes.
“Typically, in the past, it was one or two songwriters,” says Bogdan. “I think this goround, people were more involved conceptually and in terms of songwriting and whatnot.”
The end result is—surprisingly—the band’s most cohesive work yet, perfectly synthesizing its more artful ambitions with burly, bottom-heavy ideas that are tailor-made for slow-motion air guitar.
“We’ve gotten to the point where we know what works and what doesn’t, but we want to challenge ourselves,” says Bogdan. “We have a lot of di fferent influences, and we wanted to hint at some of those.”
—Sean L. Maloney
