A catalyst process – review of In This Moment’s “Witch”

Life is hard! We don’t decide to born, but when it came we thrown into that playground called life. In the playground you can play and laugh as all the children in this world. You can even hurt and cry as all the children in this world. And the worst wounds are the ones we get as kids. And in that right moment the playground turns into a jungle. You are scary, but you must learn to survive. You have two options: giving into the pain or turn pain into something beautiful. To choose the cathartic way. A catalyst for your life.

“Witch” it was a catalyst for the singer Maria Brink accepting to embrace her pain and turn into power:

“Witch is my declaration of inner transformation,” Brink adds of the album arc. “It’s about embracing the duality within — taking pain, persecution, and struggle — and alchemizing them into strength and power. The album reflects both ancient trials and my own journey — where being a ‘witch’ means being a creator, connected to the universe, manifesting my own reality.”

In This Moment, a cathartic album

So “Witch” is not only the name of this album, or the mystic closing circle of the previous albums “Ritual” and “Mother”. It’s the ability of blending the bad with the good and creating something positive. For ourself and for the people. A meeting with the pain to let it out all the negativity inside of us, to turn pain into power. A catalyst process to purify the soul and the body, to feel good and better.

In This Moment is surely one of the most iconic band in the last fifteen years. It has the most eccentric singer of metal panoramic. I personally consider her a popstar in a metal contest. With her style of a popstar during the concerts, the kind of choreographies with her dance troupe, and last but not least her theatrical moments as in music studio so in the In This Moment‘s shows. We can consider her the Madonna or the Lady Gaga in the metal scene.

The ninth In This Moment‘s work playing the usual industrial metal genre, with alternative metal and goth elements. Eleven tracks that highlight the singer’s vocal qualities. The vocals mirrors her mood and witching ways as in the angry moments as in the intimate ones. Maria Brink is 49 years old, but doesn’t seem to feel her age. She can switch from clean to harsh vocals with disarming ease. The best of her is in her sensual theatrical voice. Especially in the usual last tracks of In This Moment‘s works, as in Nine Inch Nails‘ cover “Something I Can Never Have“.

The intro/song “Shame” opens this album and it’s a very stong song with such Dave Draiman of Disturbed‘s style in some her harsh vocals. And as usual as in latest works, even “Witch” has some featuring and covers. The first feat. is in the song “I Want to Believe” with the band Dayseeker. The most banger track Heretic with Australian singer Kim Dracula, with a Slipknot‘s (“The Heretic Anthem“) and Korn‘s (“Freak on a Leash“) tribute in some parts of the song. And the Pink Floyd‘s cover “Another Brick in the Wall“, maybe the weakest track in the whole album, featuring Kat Von D. Yes, I’m not a huge fan with covers in studio albums, and this one I didn’t like so much.

The singles taken out from the album are in pure In This Moment‘s style: “Crawl“, “Sleeping With the Enemy“, and the song already mentioned “Heretic“. All the three songs show to the listeners how will the entire trip: calm and quite but even raw and chaotic. By the way, there are some intimate songs as “Father“. A song dedicated to her father that abandoned her and her mother when she was a child. The beautiful I“nto the Dark“. A song with a soft flow that bursts in the final bars. Then we have “Without Me There’s No You“, and the Police‘s cover “Wrapped Around Your Finger“.

In conclusion, “Witch” is a good album with some several moments where the listeners can identify themsleves. And if the selection of the covers it was about the concept of the album, I keep thinking that were too much. In any case Witch it’s a solid work with good arrangementes that will keep you company at every moment of your life.

“Witch” will be available on 28th August via label Better Noise, here the tracks:

1. Shame
2. I Want To Believe (feat. Dayseeker)
3. Crawl
4. Into The Dark
5. Sleeping With The Enemy
6. Wrapped Around Your Finger
7. Heretic (feat. Kim Dracula)
8. Father
9. Without Me There’s No You
10. Another Brick In The Wall (Pink Floyd cover) (feat. Kat Von D)
11. Something I Can Never Have (Nine-Inch Nails cover)