The Alchemist is definitely the band's strongest effort. The band's no longer so reliant on Bobby Liebling for inspiration that you feel the need to check the songwriting credits. Sure, I doubt the band will ever be able to fully shake the influence of their elders, but they compensate with superior songs that don't fit neatly in the �stoner� or �doom� categories. There's a grace and fluidity, and the band often plays with an almost progressive melody. There's some soulful, expressive music here. Witchcraft may be considered a throwback band by some, but they do it better than most. They've grown as musicians and have once again outdone themselves.

Every now and then, an album comes along that you can tell, simply by listening to the first 20 seconds, that it�s going to be a masterpiece. It oozes that vibe, but the purpose is clear; your course is charted for you in the first riffs, though you know full well you�re going to encounter detours, dead ends, and possibly a lyre-strumming goblin or two along the way. Add Witchcraft�s The Alchemist to that list. Though the Cream-leaning Swedes have been laying down doomy, incessant grooves for going on six years now, this newest effort finds the band at its creative peak, finally nailing a psychedelic stride.

There is in every song a seamless union of laissez-faire and unrelenting heaviness, its cohesiveness largely owing to the dudes� knack for deceptive and aggressive melodies. From the first overlapping Keef-meets-Iommi riffs of �Walk Between the Lines,� to the fuzzed-out conclusion of the 14-minute title epic, your mind will feel like it's swimming in mud�soon as you climb out, though, you�ll realize your foot was tapping the entire time. The guitar tandem of Magnus Pelander and John Hoyles is what might have happened had George Harrison hooked up with Matt Pike in the early 70s. These guys are a riff factory�period. And oh yeah�let�s not forget Ola Henriksson whomping your psyche upside its head with the fattest effing bass lines since Ginger Baker, or Fredrik Hansson flat-out abusing his kit, not to mention threatening your personal well-being, with his thunderous Bonham-on-quaaludes beats.

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