REPRESSED ON RED VINYL. Doomy hard rockers Mountain Witch took the underworld by storm with their late 2013 LP 'Cold River'. Their gameplan was simple and effective: take the low-end darkness of Black Sabbath and the pugilistic riffing of Judas Priest and drape them in shadow. One could be forgiven for misreading the album title 'Cold River' as 'Reel to reel tape found in the cellar of an abandoned house in the woods, circa 1976'. Now, two and a half years later, the northern German trio is back with their second album, 'Burning Village'. In the interim between albums Mountain Witch broke the bank on focusing and tightening their songcraft, honing the edge of their established identity while mining previously untapped potential: adding dimension, widening the scope and prominence of the vocals and worshipping the riff with increasing fervor. 'Burning Village' is horror literature in leather and inked-stained denim, protometal from Innsmouth, the soundtrack of choice for Dunwich by night. At this point the band is out of the cellar and out of the woods. Unleashed on an unsuspecting world Mountain Witch is ready to patrol stages and burn down villages with their riff-fueled fury.