REVIEW: Witch Fever - FEVEREATEN

If there's one word to describe WITCH FEVER, it's relentless. They've spent the last few years making appearances with other modern heavyweights in the UK alternative circuit like BIFFY CLYRO, NOVA TWINS, and CASSYETTE, and they're currently on a two-month arena tour across the EU and UK with rock titans VOLBEAT - this is a band who have an innate, fierce energy, especially evident in their never-ending live performances. On their sophomore album, FEVEREATEN, they capture that electric atmosphere in a way that's emotionally cathartic, heavier in intensity, and overall, bigger than anything they have done before. In the three years since their debut album, Congregation, it's clear that WITCH FEVER have grown in a myriad of ways; in emotional clarity, musical talent, and lyrical prowess.

Kickstarting this record is DEAD TO ME!, a track that begins with the whining of guitar before a heavy drumbeat leads us into the initially-melodic vocals of AMY WALPOLE - before long she's bursting into the shouty chorus where there's a palpable rage that she sends coursing through our veins. The familiar breakneck pace of their debut is intertwined with slow, deliberate riffs - there's a definite doom metal element in this track, emblematic of the band's genre-blending abilities. Before we can recover from the intensity, we're led into the steady build-up of FINAL GIRL. Distorted wails bring us into a track that flows seamlessly from vocal harmonies to intense, grimy riffs. This will turn out to be a recurring theme in the album - the clash of meditative rhythms and verses spilling over with vitriol. Through the religious themes of WITCH FEVER, this is heaven and hell.

2022's Congregation saw the church of WALPOLE's childhood as a physical entity, realised through remembrance. Here, it's conceptual - the church is judgement, shame, the eternal feeling of observation; the lingering fear that you're being watched, and followed by unseen eyes. "That kind of thing doesn't go away," says the singer, even long after she left the church that instilled the feeling into her. This is the direct influence that creates the album's title, FEVEREATEN - it's the essence of being consumed by something inside you that you can't free yourself from. When it comes to tracks like THE GARDEN these religious elements are overt. Here the Garden of Eden is interpreted as an allegory for female liberation, against a backdrop of slow core fused with heavy alt-rock. It's a haunting track that leaves us reeling from the emotional breakdown even after it's wound down.

Back-to-back tracks NORTHSTAR and DRANK THE SAP double down on the crushing walls of sound and sonic assault - ALISHA YARWOOD hits us with sprawling, textured riffs, duelling with ALEX THOMPSON's filthy basslines, while the crashing drums of ANNABELLE JOYCE are a relentless beat that serves as a force to be reckoned with. Following track Safe holds a raw tenderness in its vulnerable lyrics, an especially poignant ballad that stems from a personal relationship of WALPOLE's. Here, the quartet step out of their comfort zone and into a field of experimentation. Fading into the background are the metal-adjacent influences that permeate their discography, and taking the forefront are elements of soft shoegaze and soul-stirring verses steeped in catharsis.

Title track FEVEREATEN emphasises the album's themes in its opening words. "I thought I'd gotten over it, but it consumes like I was born for it," sings WALPOLE. The quiet meditation on her emotional state soon leads into a fury-filled chorus in what becomes a vicious cycle between tranquility and wrath. A strong enough cycle between states that it persists through the anger-fuelled BURN TO HIT and SEE YA NEXT TUESDAY the latter of which is by far the heaviest in this track list. The breakdowns are unabating, and each one ignites a brighter fire within us before ultimately culminating in the track's full ignition and subsequent destruction.

REPRISE ties in gothic elements with spine-chilling, sinister instrumentals that fluctuate between quiet and haunting, and imposing brutality. Splinters of the Lord's prayer are embedded in the lyrics, twisted into a takedown of religious mentalities and the false condemnation of women marked as witches. AMBER then returns to the lonely quiet of SAFE, carrying the same despondent reminiscence of a past relationship through sweeping, gloom-tinged instrumental sections.

It all soon finds an end in I SEE IT. The experimentation reaches its peak here, and elements from all across this album meld together into a brutal hurricane of noise. The imagery is abstract, and the song strays away from any sense of usual structure or form. The instrumentals are harsh and storm-battered, and the vocals are increasingly manic, at the height of aggression and sheer cathartic rage. For this track's production, WALPOLE and THOMPSON ventured up the infamous Pendle Hill and channelled guttural screams into a dictaphone - sometimes, what you need is to let the world hear your rage. The track soon fades out into distorted whispers that linger on the wind, and we're left to recover from it all with just the distant sound of rainfall for company.

FEVEREATEN is WITCH FEVER at their strongest; emotionally raw and still bleeding, experimental both instrumentally and lyrically, and emerging from this emotional battlefield of trauma with a sound that truly defines the band. This release sees each member of the band properly harnessing the power of their instruments, with extra-dynamic drum patterns, increased noise and texture to the guitar riffs, and lyrically, a sense of refinement that tops all their previous releases. This has been three years in the works, and it shows. With the release of FEVEREATEN on the horizon, the band's musical expedition reaches new heights, and if this is the journey they're taking us from, we'll be there every step of the way.

Score: 9/10

FEVEREATEN will be released on 31st October 2025 via Music for Nations/Sony.

Words: Naomi Colliar Duff

Photos: Witch Fever