By The Wytches have jumped directly under a dark cloud of psychedelic intense punk with their new album ‘All Your Happy Life’, where we get to visualise the insane and cleverly twisted minds of each member. Two years since their debut, I didn’t think The Wytches could get any more intense, yet the sound that came off my vinyl when I first heard it, pulled me in so deep it was hard to think of much else. The Brighton (now) four piece band have shown how their sound has majorly matured in this second album, focusing on more complex issues and making a point that their listeners should see that their darkness isn’t what moulds them as a successful band. Seeing their album debut in store at Resident in Brighton truly resonated to me how far they’ve come, especially with Kristian’s vocals. Meeting them after also showed how they don’t take themselves seriously offering me a tenner to rate the album 10/10.
Although it’s been over two years since ‘Annabel Dream Reader’, The Wytches haven’t shied away, releasing the EP ‘Home Recordings’. Recorded after the album they wanted to show their flexibility as a band. In an interview the band have said how “Some of (their) favourite releases by bands (they) love have been B-side and rarities compilations”, so we can expect to see more spontaneous releases that show a much rawer side of The Wytches.
The album opens with a brief prelude that plunges into one of its highlights, ‘C-Side’, a track filled with ferocious riffs and Kristian’s husky vocals against a slow drum beat that puts this track into a sort of limbo between fuzzy mellowness and chaos. This theme is carried through in ‘A Feeling We Get’, a personal favourite and one that is magical live. The seductive guitars paired with howling lyrics like “There’s a feeling I get, when I sleep, I forget, everything” create a gloominess that only The Wytches could pull off.
‘Ghost House’ draws similarities from their debut album and that angsty teen vibe is very much in sight, providing an opportune moment for a relentless mosh pit. ‘Throned’, ‘Bone-Weary’ and ‘A Dead Night Again’ offer a more sedated feel and best show the band’s progress, packed with emotion and moody melodies. ‘Dumb-Fill’ and ‘Home’ together make two fitting album closers, both on the quieter side. Standing out with a twang that is unusual to their sound, ‘Dumb-Fill’ dives into a pool of sulky emotions, fading into the final song ‘Home’. A soothing and tear-jerking track, that softens Bell’s vocals, showing the range he has.
‘All Your Happy People’ draws you into a complex and emotional state that strips The Wytches bare, exposing a lot more realness than ‘Annabel Dream Reader’. An easy listen filled with psychedelia and influences from metal, punk and grunge, the energy that radiates off this record is captivating. With their current tour of the country supporting Jamie T, The Wytches can truly test the water with this new album, which is bound to have people turning heads.
