The Wytches play London's Garage as part of Heavenly Recording's 25th birthday celebrations .
The Wytches have made a name for themselves over the past two years as one of the best psych/grunge acts in the UK. The band's 2014 debut "Annabel Dream Reader" was met with critical acclaim, acquiring an 8/10 review from NME. Since then the band have played UK and European festival circuits, several lengthy tours of their own and have supported bands such as Yuck and The Cribs. Earlier this year the band released their latest effort, an E.P. titled "Thunder Lizard's Reprieve" and have a second full length album on the way. You can listen to their latest E.P. here.
The band came on stage with a new addition, a keyboard/organ player. Up until very recently they were a three piece outfit. However, the fourth member certainly provided the show with extra intensity, putting down a heavy and threatening layer of sound behind the band's usual brilliant clamour.
The band started the set with a song simply titled "Intro", a slow but menacing song which gave a flavour of the dark and brutal show that was to come. The set was a little over an hour long, with three previously unreleased numbers and a couple of B-sides thrown in for good measure.
A personal highlight of mine came six songs into the set when front-man Kristian Bell launched into "Wastybois", one of the outfit's heaviest songs, the strain was visible on his face as he screamed the punishing lyrics into the microphone. One of the slower tracks from their debut album "Summer Again" received a rare outing and provided the crowd with a much needed chance to catch their breath.
The Wytches went on to close the set with an as of yet unreleased song and from the sound of this and some of the other unrealised tracks, which we can assume will be on the second album, the future is certainly looking bright for the four-piece.
Words: Liam Navey.
