Witches Mortuary is a band that may be unknown to a majority of the music listening public, but their story is absolutely awe-inspiring. Forming in July 2025, this group of young, hungry musicians have made a name for themselves in the local scene with an album, EP, and this concert, their first, at the Mist Rolling Inn. Their flavour of stoner doom metal has really caught the attention of the Nottingham metal scene, and their talent has translated to relative popularity as they have caught traction all over the internet...
The thing I noticed when I first walked into the Mist Rolling Inn was how cramped it was. Despite there being a relatively small amount of people compared to other venues, it felt so tight in the best way possible: all these people with genuine admiration and excitement to see this performance. Everyone in that room had some sort of personal connection to the band, either personally knowing them or having them as their little hidden gem. You could tell just from looking around that people were not faking or pushing out excitement that wasn’t there. Every single person in that room had the highest of anticipations and was ready for the show of a lifetime.
Of course, the demographic of this shows was what you would expect: a sea of gaunt metalheads, with their long (slightly greasy) hair, long sleeved T-shirts with unintelligible chicken scratch written on them, and enough piercings to definitely cause a stir at the TSA. All of these people, sincerely, add to the experience, as it is exactly the type of crowd you want for a band’s first show; a room of hungry young riff-headed ruffians ready to cause a riot.
First on was Burnoutt, with two ‘T’s, and they had that energy that you could not bottle. Their lead singer had Dave Grohl flair, and every track on their setlist possessed a zing - an unexplainable energy that just captivated the room and the crowd’s attention.
Next up was a band named ABD, who I had never heard of before but were absolutely amazing. Their specific flavour of thrash was riveting, and it was clear the crowd were loving it as much as I was.
Their solos seemed to have 1.21 gigawatts of pure metal fury as it felt as if I was transported to SoCal in the 1980s with the style and sound on that stage.
After a short intermission, the moment that people have been waiting nearly a year to experience finally came to fruition: Witches Mortuary took the stage. They thundered and roared through their set, playing devastatingly beautiful songs with grit and ache.
Jake, their lead singer, growled and screeched like he was getting mutilated on stage, and it was brilliant. Josh tore at the drums like they owed him money, Mike was thundering on the bass, and Kamron and Loz were trading attention with their blistering guitars.
A highlight of the set was Pornographic Rituals, with its dark, haunting atmosphere and pure technicality. Every second was heavy and brutal in the best way possible. It felt as if they were piling stones on my chest like Giles Corey. The crowd was crazy and Witches Mortuary were reciprocating this with pinpoint accuracy.
Looking back at this concert, it is clear that Witches Mortuary are something special. It is said that about 10,000 new bands form every year, and millions of songs are uploaded to streaming sites - and yet this band of five teenagers from Nottingham have stood out as something that calls to be listened to. Witches Mortuary are not a band that will ask for your attention, they are the sort of band that grabs you by the shoulders and forces you to watch them do what they are born to do. Music is their clear calling and they have answered the phone with vigour.
Witches Mortuary performed at the Mist Rolling Inn on 18th May 2026.
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