Extreme doom fans have been waiting on this for ages, but it's finally here, the definitive reissue/collection of the complete studio recordings of Burning Witch, the trailblazing and trend-setting doom outfit from Los Angeles that laid down the template for how fucking slow you could go in the 1990's. I'm pretty sure that alot of heads were turned onto Burning Witch's ouvre later on after the band ceased operations via Stephen O'Malley from Sunn O))) and Khanate, who originally founded BW along with singer Edgy 59, bassist Stuart Dahlquist and drummer Jamie Sykes. They were a pretty cult proposition when they initially came out. Regardless, though, the sound of Burning Witch has had an immense influence on how slow motion metal would evolve. You can hear their DNA in the music of everyone from Monarch to Yob to ASVA, Black Boned Angel to Buried At Sea. This reissue of Cripple Lucifer documents the decimation with a two disc set that collects the Albini-produced Towers release from 1996 and Rift Canyon Dreams from 1997, both long out of print.

The Towers session is mercilessly crushing, the ground zero for what we now recognize as extreme doom metal, and it's underscored by a nasty black streak of psychedelia that noone has managed to duplicate since. The terminal downer-sludge of Grief was no doubt an influence on what the members of Burning WItch were going for, but tracks like "Sea Hag" and "Country Doctor" are slower and more oppressive than Grief ever were. And then there is Edgy59, the leather-fetish clad androgyne that fronted Burning Witch with some of the most extreme, soul-ripping vocal expressions that have ever been recorded, period. His twisted hag-screech and fucked up Geddy Lee-on-valium howl still chills my marrow to this day. O'Malley uses feedback as an instrument in a manner that predates his droneological work with Sunn O))), unspooling massive veins of amplifier rumble that fills the void between detuned powerchords, expanses of void so vast that one wonders what in the hell Jamie Syke's is doing with his time in between his glacial prolonged drum strikes. They do mix it up though, sometimes breaking out into plodding powerdirges that recall Eyehategod, and their masterful control of dynamics and tension is what made this stuff so crucial in the first place. The track "The Bleeder" is included as well on this disc as the last track, previously having been released on the split with Goatsnake.

On Rift Canyon Dreams, the creeping doom is made even heavier and weirder with a more complex riff attack and an incredible vocal performance from Edgy59. It's been years since I've heard any of these tracks, and as soon as the gluey crush of opening track "Warning Sign" kicks in and Edgy59's crooning, tripped out singing rears its head, I'm flattened all over again by the sheer power of it all. The vocals continue to vacillate between the howling "witch screech" vocals and dramatic clean singing that appeared on Towers, but the guy sounds totally unhinged this time around, and the vocals are electronically processed, making them sound more otherworldly and dementedly alien than ever. O'Malley's guitar playing is more baroque and textured here, too, and the mood is incredibly atmospheric and bleak, bleaker than anything else happening in metal at the time, heavier than God, impossibly immense and malevolent, each song reaching upwards in length of 11 minutes or longer. And check the second track "Stillborn" for one of the most harrowing moments of post-Sabbath heaviosity ever. This disc also contains the title track that had previously only been available on a split 12" with ASVA.

This is an essential historical document for anyone into sludge, doom, slow motion metal, hell, this is on my top 20 list of heaviest albums EVER, so take that as you will. Then package is amazing as well, a massive 6 panel digipack designed by Stephen O'Malley that comes with a lavish 40-page thick booklet that is loaded with photos, medieval images, liner notes from Aaron Turner (Isis) and Chris Dodge (Slap A Ham Records), and other assorted eye candy.