Imagine waking up in a smoke-filled record store, somewhere between a Sabbath bootleg cassette and a battered "Heavy Metal Parking Lot" poster – and from the dusty speakers comes something that instantly makes your head nod in slow motion. "Strung Out in Hell", the second outing from Birmingham trio Margarita Witch Cult, is exactly that kind of album – raw, conspiratorial, and packed with riffs that grab you by the skull.
Heavy as a Sabbath riff at dawn, yet with enough madness and sheer joy to carve a grin onto your face. The Brummies wear their influences – Sabbath, stoner, sludge – proudly, but stomp their own path, saturated with fuzz, proto-metal beats, and psychedelic thornbush.
The opener, "Crawl Home To Your Coffin", rolls in like a rusty hearse on an endless highway – fat vintage riffs, doomy groove, and lyrics straight out of a horror script. Heavy Psych Sounds calls it “sinister groove, rocked-up vocals, doomy injections.”
"Scream Bloody Murder" grabs your neck muscles and shakes. Lo-fi rawness meets an anthemic chorus that unexpectedly reveals a rough-edged Judas Priest vibe – suspicious, yet dangerously catchy. With "Conqueror Worm", things sink deeper into the undertow. Ominous, dragging riffs, a demonic atmosphere – heavy groove “via methodical doom intensity.” Then comes "Witches Candle": a turbo mini-riff rush dressed in NWOBHM style with a dark psychedelia twist – punchy and unforgettable.
Midway, the album takes a left turn: "White
Wedding". A Billy Idol cover hurled from ‘80s pop straight into
pitch-black doom dimensions – thick fuzz feedback, snarling vocals, more
menacing than ever. This cover is so distinctive it borders on genius
obsession. The second half goes spacier and more experimental:
"Mars Rover" stomps with a doomy groove like a lost astronaut without
hope, trudging through Martian dust – fuzzed-out yet playful.
"Dig Your Way Out" is short, loud, and frustration-fueled – an angry, noisy burst of punk-sludge that doesn’t need to kick the door down to hit you hard. Then "The Fool" – a pillar of the record. Bluesy backbone, tangled horn attacks, an anarchic brass explosion that massages your brain while making you sway.
For the finale: "Who Put Bella In The Wych Elm" – nearly seven minutes of pure darkness. A quiet, creeping intro, then: doom detonation in all its dragging weight. This unresolved-mystery theme becomes a doom-laden horror trip that leaves you whispering: "Strung Out in Hell."
Mid-tempo instead of speed-metal: the scene sees this as a clear move – no debut-album overfiddling, but more weight, more groove, more fuzz. The band sounds tighter, groovier, yet still filthy as hell – like Electric Wizard meeting hard rock – only with that Worcestershire-sauce twist from Brum.
Not every track reinvents Doom; some walk well-worn paths – but that’s the charm. Margarita Witch Cult prove that metal thrives on feeling, on the kick, on the dust in your face. "Strung Out in Hell" isn’t a calculated retro show; it’s a dirty, earthily vibrating hellride, full of heart, humor, and heavy punch. For those who’d rather dance in purgatory than sit and smolder.
-Helge Neumann
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