Witch Fever’s FEVEREATEN finds narrative intentionality in rage

While most of the record leans heavily into rage and disappointment, its most compelling moments arise when that anger is paired with restraint and narrative intent.

That balance is achieved most richly on “SAFE”, a 5-minute track that is undeniably the album’s centrepiece. Built around contrast, the track opens with a breathy verse, creating a sense of lightness and vulnerability that is a departure from the album’s more volatile impulses. The chorus brings on layered vocals that add emotional intensity as well as sonic depth and volume. Pensive synths and bass permeate the measured bridge, which gives the physical sensation of falling. The addition of acoustic piano and strings in the instrumental outro lends a sense of narrative development and closure, a clear sign of evolution in the band’s songwriting and production.

Elsewhere, “THE GARDEN” demonstrates Witch Fever’s flair for cinematic dynamism, with dreamlike guitars and vocals lulling the listener into an eerie calm before an explosive chorus. While this heavily repeated formula of gloomy build-ups and eruptive screaming starts to feel fairly old and predictable through the course of the album, this track serves as one of the more effective attempts at restraint and release. Towards the album’s close, “REPRISE” also offers a brief but welcome structural subversion with a fiery opening that dissolves into a hauntingly sinister soundscape. Though the track doesn’t appear to develop much further until the ending, it feels both spectral and cathartic, an obvious highlight in the record’s somewhat monotonous and repetitive latter half.

While FEVEREATEN can seem uneven, these highlights suggest a band that is keen to explore and is capable of evolving. When Witch Fever allow intention and creativity to guide their intensity, the results are entrancing.