BURNING WITCH rose from the ashes of THORR'S HAMMER in late 1995, a continuing collaboration of members Stephen O'Malley, Greg Anderson, and Jamie Sykes. G. Stuart Dahlquist entered the rank on bass adding a distinct characteral element to the already heavy, massive sound. With the addition of vocalist Edgy 59 the mold was broken, and a unique beast was berthed. Shortly thereafter Anderson departed for LA to form his own notable GOATSNAKE project (whom G STUART DAHLQUIST also joined in 2000), but the WITCH became more and more defined, an aggresive soundscape of introversion, solitude, and paranoia.
The act hooked up with Steve Albini to record the monstrous "Towers..." in september 1996. This recording symbolizes the momentous kinetic violence in the songwriting, added to the uncanny timing rythm and performance. It has been widely hailed across several underground channels.
During the grim winter of 1996 to 1997 the second exploration "Rift.Canyon.Dreams" was composed, flowing in a more hynotic droning direction, and more visual than before. Previous to the groups lay to ice in march 1997, this session was set to tape, this time with engineer Aarron Evil behind the helm and B.R.A.D. fullfilling percussive damnation. RCD is a fusion of ambience, celestial and impression, and pure doom power. Edgy 59's vocals shine as a beacon of darkness in a tower of light, thundering waves of distoted drone pounding at it's walls. Epic. In July 1998, after failed attempts by several labels, Southern Lord released both recordings as the CD under the "Crippled Lucifer (Seven Psalms For Our Lord Of Light)". Matthias Schneeberger (also known as Schneebee) has lent his skill to the mastering. In an era retroversion, BURNING WITCH stretch boundries of doom into heretofor unexplored areas.
Shortly after the recording of RCD the band was put on ice indefinitely, although two gigs were performed in autumn 1998 (San Francisco and Los Angeles. One final track was composed, "Insignificant Other" although never laid to tape in the studio. One other song remains unreleased from the RCD sessions, the title track "Rift.Canyon.Dreams".
EDGY 59 has since formed SINISSTAR (signed to Geffen records), while G Stuart Dahlquist and Stephen O'Malley (with Greg Anderson of GOATSNAKE) formed the power ambient drone project SUNNO))). SUNNO))) has released two records of their own ("GrimmRobe Demos" and "00 VOID", both released on Hydra Head Records, USA during 2000) and have the third ("The Flight OF The Behemoth" coming spring 2001 on Southern Lord, and the fourth ("The White Album") late in 2001/2002.
