ABOUT
Witchskull blend NWOBHM laced traditional doom with the aggression that you would expect a 3-piece Australian band to deliver. This energy, coupled with an authentic insight into the occult to create mesmerising lyrics, has won the band plenty of interest worldwide.
The story essentially began in 2015 with the band intending to record a demo at Melbourne’s Goatsound Studios with Jason Fuller (Blood Duster), and ended up recording 8 songs that became their debut album The Vast Electric Dark…In just 3 days.
With no expectations the album went on to top the storied Doom Charts, received an incredible boutique vinyl release through America’s STB label, and received a worldwide release through Ripple Music to a slew of album of the year nods and rapturous reviews.
Buoyed by this response, the band considerably upped the ante for their second album, Coven’s Will.
Travelling to New York’s Studio G in Brooklyn with one of doom metal’s best producer/engineers Billy Anderson (Sleep, Eyehategod, Cathedral), and their 'right hand man' Jason Fuller, the band set out to make the album they always wanted. Live to tape, no click tracks and most tracks captured in one take. The results speak for themselves. Pure, in-your-face, no frills traditional doom metal delivered with primal aggression.
At the end of the recording process, Witchskull made its international live debut headlining New York’s famed St Vitus Bar.
Coven’s Will struck a chord with several international labels, but once an offer from Lee Dorrian’s revered Rise Above Records arrived, the choice was simple.
The album was released in June 2018 and received overwhelmingly positive reviews, including a full page spread in the universally acclaimed metal bible ‘Metal Hammer’.
Witchskull unleashed videos for both ‘Raven’ and ‘Breathing Blue Light’ from Coven’s Will.
The following 18 months were spent touring Australia and New Zealand and writing the follow up for Coven’s Will. It was decided that the northern hemisphere was going to have to wait a little longer to witness the band live.
Late 2019 saw Witchskull enter the studio to record their 3rd (second for Rise Above Records) offering, titled A Driftwood Cross, released in April 2020. A video for ‘This Silent Place’ was released and reviews heralded the album as the bands finest to date. More extensive touring throughout Australia was undertaken before writing commenced for their highly anticipated 4th album.
September 2021 saw the band enter Toyland Studios in Melbourne to record the AC/DC track Sin City for Magnetic Eye Records “Best of AC/DC” tribute. Witchskull’s interpretation was a looser more feral rendition of the masters original, which managed to stay true enough to the songs roots, yet allow their own style to shine through.
In May 2022 the band began recording of their 4th album The Serpent Tide for Rise Above Records, with Jason Fuller once again in charge of production. The album was released in June 2023 and a groundswell of interest is already underway. It is the bands heaviest instalment to date, and once again showcases, through their song writing and live performances, why Witchskull have become one of the most genuinely intriguing and bludgeoning bands in the scene today.
The band have once again delivered the goods on every level, and are set to leave a significant scar!
NEWS
2 June 2024
Our recent May shows went really well, and we’d like to thank everyone who came out to support the local scene. We were lucky enough to play with some killer bands, with some members we have known since the 80’s. It was great playing with some of Australia’s finest so a huge thanks to Blood Trails, The Veil, Point 17, Reaper, Butterfly and King Leghorn. We would also like to thank The Vanguard (Syd), The Pot Belly (Canberra) and The Gaso (Melb) for helping to make each show so special. This year is our 10th anniversary and we are doing a residency in the Abyss Room at the Baso in Canberra over 4 Saturdays this October. Each date we will be playing an album in its entirety. Hopefully we’ll see you then!
3 March 2024
After a quiet start to the new year we had the pleasure of heading back to Adelaide in February to play Churches of Steel Festival with a killer line up of Oz and International bands. This was only our second time in SA and the organisers couldn’t have been more accommodating. We met a heap of awesome people and really look forward to getting back there sooner than later. Our eternal thanks to Chris and Jireh for an extremely memorable stay.
A few days after Adelaide we were back at our Canberra local, The Baso, supporting DRI. It’s always amazing playing with bands that have been around forever, and even better when they are a bunch of really good people. A massive thanks to our Brother Doug (and his better half Amabelle) from Hardline Media for having us onboard. We had an absolute ball! Plans are underway for a run of shows in May, with the following dates locked in - 4th May Sydney, 18th May Canberra & 24th May Melbourne. Hopefully we’ll see you there!
27 September 2023
Our Launch shows for “The Serpent Tide” are still underway, so a huge thanks to everyone who came to the Sydney Melbourne and Newcastle shows, we had a blast! It was great having Pilots of Baalbek with us for all three shows as well as Oceanlord at Cherry Bar, Robot God at Crowbar and The Howlin’ Rats at the Hamilton Station Hotel in Newcastle. Our official Canberra launch is at The Basement on Saturday 18 November with a killer mixed bill of some of Canberra’s finest heavy hitters, in Immorium, Undermines & Loose Cannon. It’s definitely going to be a huge night and we’re really looking forward to making some noise with the local Canberra crew. More shows will be announced over the coming months, so stay tuned!
16 June 2023
Our 4th album “The Serpent Tide” was released through Rise Above Records today. It was recorded nearly a year ago, so we are pleased that is finally available and are looking forward to hearing your thoughts. Most of the material was written during the pandemic with no pre-conceived ideas about how we wanted it to sound. It’s a different beast, but one we are very proud of.
Our first show of the year will be Saturday 24 June at the Croatian Club Canberra with a stacked line up of killer bands, with awesome production supplied by Greenroom Canberra. We have gold vinyl copies of the new record for sale along with new tee and hoody designs, so hopefully we’ll see the local Canberra contingent there! Oh, and it’s licenced until 3am, so we’ll get to have a drink with you all after our set.
1 May 2023
Our 4th album will be released through Rise Above Records towards the end of June 2023. Its been a long wait, and we’re looking forward to hearing what you think of it. We have an exciting show happening at The Croatian Club in Canberra on Saturday 24 June, and hopefully we’ll have copies of the new album available at this show? The only official launch show we have booked at this stage is Melbourne on Saturday 5 August…Details to follow soon, but save the date if you want to catch us in Melbourne for the first time in a while.
More launch shows to be announced over the coming months and we can’t wait to play the new album along with some older tracks we haven’t played in a while. Hope to see you all soon!
9 September 2022
Final mixes for opus 4 have been completed, and we couldn’t be happier with the results. We still don’t have a release date for the album but it's looking likely to be within the first half of 2023, so fingers crossed! We are in rehearsal mode for a run of shows starting Sat 29 October, supporting the King Parrot lads at Max Watt’s in Melbourne, then we finally get back to Sydney on Sat 5 November at The Landsdowne Hotel with Astrodeath and MWDC. We also finally get to Adelaide for the first time playing the Froth and Fury Fest on Sat 19 November, before finishing up at Canberra’s Basement on Fri 25 November with Reaper from Melbourne and Schkeuditzer Kreuz from Sydney. These are likely to be our last shows until the new year…Bring on 2023!
2 August 2022
It’s been a hectic few months recording the new album, and completing our July shows. Unfortunately due to supply chain issues, the album won’t be released until sometime in 2023, but it will be released through Rise Above Records and we will let you know as soon as we have an update. The album was again recorded at Toyland and Goatsound Studios in Melbourne, and again produced by Jason Fuller and engineered by Jason and Adam Calaitzis. We are really happy with how it's sounding and the mix is almost complete. During our July shows we played a few of the new songs live, and are looking forward to launching the album throughout 2023.
Thanks for coming out to see us in Melbourne, Goulburn and Canberra and apologies to Sydney for cancelling due to Covid. We have some killer shows in November to announce shortly, so stay tuned!
12 May 2022
At the end of May we are heading back into the studio to record our 4th album, and our 3rd for Rise Above Records. We have been writing since the release of “A Driftwood Cross” and are really pleased with the results and can’t wait for you all to hear it. Unfortunately due to difficult market conditions for certain commodities to make vinyl stampers, the album will not get a release until 2023. We will update you all when we know a likely release date.
We have just announced a run of shows for the east coast of Oz this July, taking in Melbourne on 9 July, Sydney 16 July, Goulburn 23 July and Canberra 30 July. We definitely plan to play some of the new songs on this run, so hopefully we’ll see you there!
15 November 2021
We had a great time last weekend playing two shows at The Basement in our home town Canberra, with the covid cap finally lifted from 100. We are playing The Bendigo Hotel in Melbourne Saturday 4 December and then spending a couple of days in the studio doing some pre-production work for the next album. Our final show for the year is at Sydney's Crowbar on Friday 17 December, so if you're around please come down for a drink.
16 September 2021
Magnetic Eye Records have released a preview of our version of AC/DCs 'Sin City' for the release of their 'Best of AC/DC' Tribute. We would like to thank Jadd from Magnetic Eye Records, Jason Fuller at Goatsound Studios for Producing and Mixing and Adam Calaitzis at Toyland Recording Studio for Engineering. You can hear it here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttjeB7qyXIg
2 July 2021
New merch has arrived and is available from Bandcamp https://witchskull.bandcamp.com/merch
We are really excited to be involved in the upcoming Best of AC/DC Redux through Magnetic Eye Records, and are stoked with how our contribution turned out. But you'll have to wait for the song announcement. Thanks to Jason Fuller from Goatsound, Adam Calaitzis from Toyland Recording Studio and Lee Dorrian from Rise Above Records for his support.
4 May 2021
JUST ANNOUNCED! Witchskull hit the road in July for their highly anticipated 'March of Winter' Tour. After 13 sold out ‘pandemic’ shows in support of their 3rd opus A Driftwood Cross (Rise Above Records) it’s now time to travel further afield as well as return to old stomping grounds!
Recently awarded 'Best Live Band in the ACT' at the National Live Music Awards 2020, Witchskull have firmly entrenched themselves as one of the Australian scenes most blistering live acts. The 'March of Winter' Tour hits Melbourne, Sydney, Goulburn, Brisbane, Canberra and Alice Springs (Blacken Open Air) throughout July with some of Australia’s finest exponents of Doom and Metal…If you missed them on their previous visits, now is the time to catch what has been described as a 'blistering, visceral, aural assault, that simply need to be seen LIVE to be truly appreciated'.
22 February 2021
What a blast! Thanks so much to everyone who came to the White Eagle shows over the weekend. Finally seeing you all standing for a show was a sight for sore eyes, and as usual you were as vocal and supportive as always. Nothing better than playing your home town, especially with our good friends Dead Lazarus, so cheers!
A monumental thanks to the 20 plus crew involved in making this show happen. Gaz, Wayne, Mick and Sam from the Greenroom who went above and beyond to deliver a killer sound system and lighting rig and absolutely nailed the old-school aesthetic and sound production we were hoping to achieve. Roger, Rich, Johnny, Andy and Tom who spent both nights filming it all and will now begin the arduous task a cutting it all together. A huge job ahead, so we are eternally grateful for your expertise and patience. Rusty, Liv, Nicole, Eric, Richie, Matt, Josh and Roy who are always there for us and who we love dearly. Thanks to Maggie for joining us onstage as she did on the recording of 'A Driftwood Cross'. Thanks to Andrew and all of the staff at The White Eagle for making the whole process a breeze and finally all of the punters and good friends of ours who travelled many miles and consumed many Polish beers in the process. Hopefully this won’t be the last time.
1 December 2020
JUST ANNOUNCED! Witchskull will be “Live at the White Eagle” in February 2021. We promise to deliver something a little different, reminiscent of gigs back in the 1980’s and ‘90’s. This marks our live return and first appearance at The Polish Club. The concept is to bring a full production sound system and a healthy bank of old (and new) lights to create the atmosphere of shows from back in the day. There will be a full professional film crew capturing the event with a DVD (or perhaps VHS) planned for release later in the year…This promises to be a memorable tilt of the hat to the early days and one you don’t want to miss. There are still strict capacity limitations due to Covid, so get in quick!
21 October 2020
A huge thanks to the National Live Music Awards 2020 for nominating us in the “Best Live Act” category, and eternal thanks to everyone who voted for us to achieve our win. Thank you to The Basement and Canberra Theatre Centre in Canberra & The Crowbar in Sydney for supporting live music in the most difficult of times. We have so many people to thank for their ongoing support, both personally and within the industry, and we hope to see you all as soon as we can venture further afield. We have some big things planned for early 2021.
14 October 2020
It was brilliant to get back to Sydney and play two shows at Crowbar with our good friends Sworn Sober and Lucifungus. As unusual as it is playing to a fully seated audience we’re just happy that gigs are happening in any capacity. The Crowbar crew looked after us, and the Sydney punters were as awesome as always, so thanks to all involved for helping make it a great weekend. We have no more shows booked for 2020, but hopefully things open up further in 2021 so we can get to Melbourne and beyond as soon as possible!
5 August 2020
Huge thanks to everyone who came out for our two “A Driftwood Cross” album launch shows at the Basement. It was amazing to play the new album in its entirety to our home crowd with the help of our good friends Sworn Sober and Juggernaut. We are eternally grateful to The Basement and their staff, especially Mikey, for looking after us so well. We are very lucky to have venues of this quality still operating in such difficult times. Great to have a drink with you all, and we hope to do it all again soon! Cheers.
22 June 2020
2nd Canberra Album Launch announced for Saturday 1 August. If you missed out on tickets for the 1st show, get on to this one quickly.
19 June 2020
Our first official launch show for ‘A Driftwood Cross’ has just been announced. We will be playing The Basement in Canberra on Saturday 25 July with Sworn Sober and Juggernaut. This show will be capped at 100 tickets due to ongoing restrictions. We are really looking forward to playing again so hope to see you there.
12 May 2020
NEW MERCH ALERT! Witchskull badges/pins are available on our Bandcamp site.
24 April 2020
Our third album 'A Driftwood Cross' was released today through Rise Above Records.
22 April 2020
Our new video for 'This Silent Place' is being premiered through Metal Injection
18 April 2020
We have new merch available! A killer new design by Xavier Irvine and a re-tweek of our first t-shirt design by Glenno. Merch is available on Bandcamp:
https://witchskull.bandcamp.com/merch
11 March 2020
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT - Our third album 'A Driftwood Cross' will be released on 24 April through Rise Above Records.
10 March 2020
New Zealand was as memorable for us as the last time we toured there, but this time we were able to share the experience with our good friends POTION. We finally got to play Whammy Bar in Auckland with a couple of NZ’s finest (Brackenwood Coven and Bloodnut) and we couldn’t have had a better time. We were blown away with the people and bands and were overwhelmed how many came out on a Thursday night, so thank you Auckland...Next stop Christchurch! Unfortunately, Swamp Dweller were unable to play but thankfully they suggested Snailrider to join us at the Darkroom. These guys went above and beyond to help us out and played a killer set so we can’t thank the staff, bands and punters enough for coming out and supporting these shows.
Saturday morning, we flew into Wellington and made our way to Upper Hutt for Obey the Riff. Words can’t describe how well put together this festival is and we can’t thank Nathan from Beastwars and Rebecca from Panhead Custom Ales enough for their hospitality and support. At 6pm we hit the stage and gave everything we had, then some. We were definitely riding the same wave as everyone there and played one of our most enjoyable sets thanks to the incredible support of the Wellington/Upper Hutt locals. Some incredible bands played throughout the afternoon, with a pretty varied mix of styles. It was great seeing and hanging with End Boss again while also getting the chance to meet Linen, The Schizophonics and Earth Tongue. Potion were even more sonically pounding than usual thanks to an amazing PA run by a great bunch of guys. Potion are fast becoming one of Australia’s best and seeing them at Obey the Riff was absolutely killer. Nothing could have prepared us for the Mighty Beastwars on their home turf at their own festival though! They are truly one of the best live bands we have ever seen. This was our 7th show supporting them, and the finest one we’ve witnessed. They have the ability to punish you at will by drawing you into their groove vortex, hold you until the final note, then leave you wondering what the fuck happened. They must be close to the best NZ band of all time and are 4 of the best people you could ever meet. Legends.
It’s a big ask to follow Beastwars at any time let alone at Obey the Riff, but that was the task for Uncle Acid. As expected, they delivered exactly what the punters were anticipating. They were well received and capped off a killer day. After show drinks followed with UA and the Panhead Custom Ales peeps who looked after us as only the Kiwi’s can, so a nice way to finish off another perfect day.
We took Sunday off to hang at the Newtown Festival and watch POTION one last time before heading home Monday afternoon. If you are yet to see these guys in action, you really should check them out. Most definitely one of the best bands in Oz right now. Big things await I’m sure!
NZ is an amazing country with the most chilled out awesome people you’ll ever have the good fortune to meet. Thanks to everyone that came up to us and had a drink and a chat…It was an absolute pleasure. Cheers, we will return!
17 January 2020
The final touches of mastering have now been completed thanks to Dav Byrne at Iridium Audio in Melbourne, and the album has been shipped to Rise Above. It is still due to be released early 2020 so with any luck you’ll all hear it sooner than later. We are really pleased with how it turned out and are eternally grateful to everyone involved who helped us achieve more than we could have hoped for. In March we are off to NZ for the Obey the Riff Fest in Wellington. Beastwars have once again invited us over and we couldn’t be happier to oblige. We also play Auckland and Christchurch with Potion which is going to be an absolute blast, so if you’re local to any of these cities we’d love to see you…Will hopefully have an exact release date for you next update, but until then, Obey the Riff!
13 December 2019
Back home after a huge couple of weeks in Melbourne. The inaugural Sun Burn Fest was killer and a good chance for us to road test some of the new songs leading into the recording of the new album. Some of Australia and NZ’s finest made for a hell of a night including the long-awaited return of Pod People…Can’t wait for next year. We spent 4 days at Toyland Studios tracking beds for the new album before moving to Goatsound Studios for a week to finish things off. Toyland was brilliant and engineer Adam Calaitzis helped us to capture a massive drum sound. Having Fooz producing us again helps make everything seem seamless, he really gets what we are trying to achieve and we couldn’t be happier with the results so far. Mixing is underway at Goatsound and the album will be released through Rise Above in 2020…Stay tuned for a release date soon.
24 November 2019
Our last show of 2019 is at the inaugural Sun Burn Fest in Melbourne on Saturday 30 November. We’ve been looking forward to this show ever since it was announced! An absolutely killer line up with some of our favourite bands and people, it’s going to be huge. We start recording the new album a couple of days after Sun Burn. It will be released in 2020 through Rise Above. We’ve been working hard on the new tunes and can’t wait to get them tracked. We’ll be playing a few of them at Sun Burn, so come and have a drink with us and give us your thoughts.
