California. Beaches, blue skies, and blazing sunshine. Unless you're The Watchers, of course. In which case it's all about darkness, shadows, and a predilection towards all things of a nocturnal nature.
The Watchers. PR photo 2024
If a band's style or sound can be influenced by their location then this San Franciscan four-piece obviously deal in misdirection. No bright and sunny '80s thrash from the Bay Area this time, The Watchers bring a classic stoner vibe reminiscent of acts such as High on Fire and Spiritual Beggars among others.
Formed in 2016, the SF four-piece follow-up debut album, Black Abyss and subsequent live EP High and Alive with a second full-length release Nyctophilia (Ripple Music). With its title relating to a love of the darkness, the record opens, appropriately enough, with the acoustic strains and doomy riffs of 'Twilight'. The fast and insistent "I Am the Dark" quickly takes over, singer/guitarist Tim Narducci's (Systematic, Spiral Arms) voice soaring above the mighty riffs before the absolutely monstrous "They Had No God" launches itself at you, its Black Sabbath meets Alice in Chains stoner hooks reinforced further by a fantastic, bluesy solo from guitarist Jeremy Von Epp.
