Unctuous stonerware was oozing out of our loudspeakers back in 2021. Suncraft was the outfit’s name, a band totally unknown to the RMR crew. And for cause. Flat Earth Rider, their debut album, sounded like something concocted in one of Cirkus Prütz‘ abandoned giant tents in cahoots with some hidden weed producer. Allegedly. And that gave us hope for moar of that good ol’ bluesy stoner sound. Much moar and blended with harsher soundbites whenever the occasion required it.
Suncraft just returned to the stage with their sophomore piece, Welcome to the Coven. But wait, what? Where there’s a coven, there’s witchcraft, right? How’s that going to pan out with the frazzled sativa thing they had blowing all over their fledgling first record? The Dark Lord works in mysterious ways, I guess. Mushy brains, strange wizards, and smoke-induced cough included.
But – something ain’t right in the land of the Norse. The stoner thing is clean out the door and only exists as an afterthought still. And in comes some Heavy Rock concoction with a serious psychedelic streak and an urge for punkish drama. And punk The Coven covers in abundance, albeit at playtimes that won’t work too well with the genre itself. Instead, you still find some of the former fuzziness in their newfound rock rage, but it ain’t there in too many facets anymore, either. The distinct power of a rough ‘n’ heavy garage band is out the door as well, replaced with some sort of manic aggression that wasn’t quite there before.
So, confusion reigned in more ways than just one over at the RMR review desk. Speed and angry screeching seemed to be the norm now, with the drummer going full-tilt for a style the famed Animal from Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem would fully embrace. Put differently, the rumble is mighty, yet the refinement fell by the wayside somewhat. An ever-returning grimy sound that wears on ye after a while. The same goes for the guitars. The riffs seem to wobble about in circular motion, all around to the point they were before. Rinse, repeat, and come again. Greed Battalion is one great example to drive that point home.
Then you got the gritty, scratchy, yet annoyingly high-pitched vocals that somehow sit back in the mix somewhere. And that, when the guitars and – again – the drums come in front center. Most notable are the solos, though. Or what serves as some sort of excursion into psychedelic territory, hunting about the sonic backyard somewhere. You won’t find too many of them, but they’re there. Sometimes by electric guitar and sometimes, unexpectedly, by the bass.
That said, Welcome to the Coven still wasn’t quite able to jolt the sleepy geezers at the RMR Review desk awake and kick everybody to attention. The motley selection of tracks, apart from Love’s Underrated, didn’t quite pump up the juices over there. Until, surprise, the last track, Forgotten Goddess, injected a bit of groove and almost unnerving power into this maelstrom of endless repetitions and old tropes.
But let’s put a tent around this circus, shall we? Welcome to the Coven doesn’t quite know what it wants to be. The weed somehow ran out and got replaced by – miscellaneous goodies rock has on offer. The band demonstrates this best by the pic they sent themselves. The tableau of a bunch of guys stuck in a laundry room of all places, with some dude wielding a knife, another one hovering in the shower, and the next enjoying shiny objects, conveys confusion but otherwise – exactly nothing. Zilch. No emotion, no focused message, and for sure no wizardry worthy of any coven.
Punk rock gets too much a lot of attention on this record, but the extensive playtime kills it. And no, just injecting raw anger and telling people to go fuck themselves won’t fix the issue. Punk pieces are short, acid-laced, straight in yer face, and mean for a reason. You gotta feel the vicious punches to the gut, that feeling of fingernails scraping along a blackboard. Yet, The Coven won’t quite convince in that department, either. Psychedelic urges are a great direction to take, too. But, yet again, those elements appear to be an afterthought at best. Lastly, Heavy Rock got some attention as well, but by far not consistently enough.
So, where does this leave us? Welcome to the Coven may not wander into territories made for great records this time. However, the band’s raw talent and the undeniable power the record exudes still left a good impression. And that, despite the boatload of critical remarks that finally ended up in this review.
If Suncraft can harness their fury a bit better and steer their rock endeavor into a more streamlined direction, I think they will be up to some greatness at least next time around. Introducing more Ragebait into the fray won’t fix it, though. In the meantime, the RMR crew will chalk that one up as one of those sophomore slump events.
Record Rating: 5/10 | Label: All Good Clean Records | Web: Official Band Site
Release Date: 21 November 2025