In an ever expanding, over populated genre, bands fight and more often than not fail to find their own identity. Stoner, Sludge and down right dire mournful Doom have all come and gone, leaving only those with originality and a sound of their own to explore and become new ground breakers of an altogether new and mutated genre. Like previous flag bearers of any new sound, Witchcraft bring with them a verve and vitality that only true masters of their art posses.

"Firewood", Witchcraft's second release, benefits greatly from that of the bands self titled debut by a far superior production quality. While the almost primitive sound that made the debut release so memorable, the now more robust sound serves as a far more solid base from which the band can demonstrate their true prowess.  The past 18 months of touring have solidified the band into the cohesive unit now capable of writing such modern classics as "Queen Of Bees" and "If Wishes Were Horses". "Firewood" has all the verve and energy of the bands debut and like "Paranoid" followed "Black Sabbath", the progression and forward momentum is bold and imaginative. Despite all the hype that now surrounds the band they have remained grounded and focused upon what has gotten them this far.

The similarities Witchcraft will have to endure to the aforementioned Black Sabbath are sure to be to numerous to mention. It is however hard to believe that "Firewood" could be conceived by a group of musicians that weren't even so much as a glint in their Daddy's eye when Messer's Iommi, Butler, Ward and Osbourne first made their mark on the music scene. It is however an injustice to saddle Witchcraft with the label of Sabbath clones, as innovation not imitation is the name of the game when it comes to discussing "Firewood". "Wooden Cross" and "I See A Man", to name but two of the albums stand out tracks, have successfully achieved in transposing the bands live sound to the studio with what would appear to the minimal of effort. A feat that many may attempt, yet few accomplish.

Atmospherically "Firewood" encompasses music free of trends and pretensions; relying upon solid groove fuelled songs, free of genre classification. The free and easy attitude is by no means forced, but is most certainly deliberate, and it is to the bands credit that such efforts are expelled in the pursuit of the bands desired vision. Generations of fans will curse us all in envy for being able to say, "we were here when the ride began".