Burning Witch

Burning Witch was an American doom metal band in the mid to late 1990s from Seattle, WA. Members of the band were Edgy 59 (vocals), Stephen O'Malley (guitar), George Stuart Dahlquist a.k.a. Bootsy Kronos (bass), and Jamie Sykes (drums) who was later replaced by B.R.A.D. After the demise of the doom/death band Thorr's Hammer in 1995, bandmates O'Malley, Sykes, and Greg Anderson teamed up with Dahlquist to create Burning Witch. Anderson soon left (starting Goatsnake), and Edgy 59 was added, finalizing the lineup. The Steve Albini-recorded, 'Towers...' LP was recorded in 1996 and released in 1998 via Slap-a-Ham records. The departure of Sykes led to his replacement by B.R.A.D. for the recording of the 'Rift. Canyon. Dreams' LP in 1997. 'R.C.D.' was released in 1998 via Merciless Records. 1998 also saw the release of 'Crippled Lucifer (Seven Psalms for Our Lord of Light), a compilation CD of the two LPs (minus the track 'Communion' from the R.C.D. album which appeared on the split CD with Goatsnake), as well as the demise of the band. Burning Witch performed their last shows in the fall of 1998. During the tenure of Burning Witch, Edgy59 and O'Malley had a noise/experimental side project called SARIN who released one cassette. When the band split, Edgy 59 left for Sinisstar, O'Malley and Dahlquist reunited with Anderson to form Sunn O))) while O'Malley moved to NYC and started Khanate and Dahlquist joined Anderson in Goatsnake. Currently, O'Malley is in Sunn O))), KTL, Æthenor, Gravetemple and Ginnungagap. Dahlquist, B.R.A.D. and Edgemont (aka Edgy 59) are in Asva. Sykes moved to England where he played drums for the doom outfit Atavist for some time before moving back to the US. In early 2008, Southern Lord released a complete discography entitled 'Crippled Lucifer (Ten Psalms for Our Lord of Light)' as a 2xCD. 2000 numbered copies came with a drop card entitling the buyer to download the 1996 demo (two tracks) as well as a live set (four tracks) recorded in Seattle. The discography contains both albums in their entirety, the track, 'The Bleeder' available only on the split with Goatsnake and the track, 'Rift Canyon Dreams' from the split LP with Asva (the track was a left-over from the R.C.D. sessions and was released in 2004) which is it's first time appearing on CD. A 3xLP is planned and will be released soon via Southern Lord. Subsequently, Daymare Records in Japan released a 3xCD version of the discography a few weeks after the SL release. The bonus 3rd disc contained just the live set as the 1996 demo was later found by James Plotkin after it's release. After Plotkin has found the demo, it was uploaded to the site and available to all those in possession of the US version with the drop card. People were notified via O'Malley's website where one could also download artwork he created specifically for the demo and live set to be printed and assembled by the consumer. One interesting bit of 'trivia': The split with Goatsnake was to be released on vinyl via Hydra Head but never came to be for various reasons. There are however a number of test pressings, 7-10, that exist and are highly sought after.