Review: Traitrs - Witch Trials

One of my missions as a DJ and host of several goth podcasts, is to expose new and exciting music to as many people as I can. A complaint I often hear from younger goths, is that us old folk are continuously pushing the "outdated" music of the early 80's onto them. While I don't agree with that sentiment, I do agree there are so many wonderful bands releasing new music, it would be a crime to ignore them.

One such band is Traitrs. They formed in the spring of 2015 and recorded their debut single "Witch Trials" with engineer/producer Josh Korody this past summer at Candle Recording. You can listen to the album on SoundCloud.

Witch Trials is a 7 track album, robust in sound and emotion, and oozing with passion. Traitrs sound is creative and unique, but still recognizable to goths and fans of post punk. The album begins with the title track, "Witch Trials" and sets the tone for the rest of the album's refreshing blend of catchy pop melodies, fused to raw guitar and heavy post punk baselines.

The album continues on with dance floor hits like Youth Cults, and my personal favorite, the maddeningly catchy and grandiosely epic track Savior. Other stand out tracks include the romantically atmospheric Lya, and the soberingly gritty and dark Gallows Hill.  Witch Trials rounds out with the Cure-like track Burnt Offerings, and finishes with the haunting morbidity of Heretic.

Each track from Witch Trials could stand on it's own, worming their way into your mind and leaving you no choice but to sing along. The album is dark and laborious, yet refreshingly so; there are no glossy fairy tales here, instead we are left to consider the painfully cumbersome reality of the human existence. In combination with the limited number of tracks, the crooning tones of the lead singer, and the imminently dancable hooks, by the time the album is over you'll have no choice but to play it again.