Blackwitch Pudding - Taste the Pudding (album review)

Cover artwork by Liesl Meissner.

The three cloaked and hooded ingredients that make up Blackwitch Pudding seem like a bunch of perverts. Everything is panties and (super)sluts. But even if I were in a position to judge these deviants harshly for their peculiar appetites, I wouldn’t because these guys are from out of town.  I mean way out of town. I understand that what may offend prudish sensibility on this planet, may just be common decency and politeness where the Pudding comes from. It’s called different cultures, and we should learn to embrace them. Embrace the sluts and taste the pudding, that’s what I say, and how the hell could you pass judgment on a thing like that anyway? *sniff, sniff* Ah, love is in the air!

Blackwitch Pudding serves up seven swarthy tracks of ‘banging wizardry on ‘Taste the Pudding’, their debut full-length. While it would be easy to look at the song titles and listen to the lyrics and label the music as ‘filthy’, that’s not quite the tone here. Oily, might be a better descriptor. The production and the music here is sleek and slick with a rainbow sheen and can also be used as a lubricant.

What else can be said about this swarthy, oily mixture we call Blackwitch Pudding? Silliness, charisma, personality and antics make them stateside cousins to UK schlock rockers Groan and that’s the comparison I make when listening. But sonically, it’s not a great match as Groan has a touch of Steel Panther in them while BP take their cues from the local (Portland) sound, which is spear-headed by Red Fang. Either way, it would be amazing to see a Groan / Blackwitch Pudding tour as that’s a match made in some kind of slutty heaven. I’m sure the panties would fly at those shows, which would make it the equivalent of a black tie affair where these stoner metallers come from. Both bands are represented by Southern Cross PR so there is a tiny link there. This probably needs to happen, that’s all I’m saying.

So it’s a swarthy, oily mixture of Stump(town)y proportions. But it’s so much more than that. This isn’t your average record by any standard. Red Fang-like stoner metal is only one listing under this Pudding's “nutritional information”. The band breathes fire during some of the sexiest moments of doom you’re likely to be comfortable encountering, any sexier than this and it would be quite uncomfortable indeed. Oh, and did I mention outer space?  There's more than a hint of dark matter in Blackwitch Pudding's recipe, I'm sure that's where the color in the name comes from.  'Taste the Pudding' is a tight recording that would provide little clue to the band's silly nature to non-English speakers.  The band can sound downright foreboding at times, but never so far over the line as this is always undercut by their penchant for cutting loose by navigating the celestial sound waves like a gang of Silver Surfers.

Swarthy, oily, stumpy, doomy, spacey, chugging, grinding, spellbinding Blackwitch Pudding. Delicious. And frightening. Clearly, ‘Taste the Pudding’ is a hostile takeover of the planet earth by three wizards from outer space. I’m not sure what it is they want, but I have an idea. To turn the entire world into a giant, formal black tie party, Pudding style. I for one would like to welcome our new overlords …

Highlights include: "Super Sluts from Outer Space" and "Gathering Panties"

Rating: 4.5/5


Total Run Time: 44:22

From: Portland, Oregon

Genre: Stoner Metal, Doom, Space, Wizard

Reminds me of: Ancient Warlocks, Black Wizard, Dirt Wizard, Groan, Red Fang, Wounded Giant

Release Date: August 30, 2013

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