There's no denying that Swedish doom metal foursome Witchcraft is heavily influenced by Black Sabbath. Crunchy riffs and wailing solos are straight up Tony Iommi while the lead singer's Ozzy Osbourne-flavored vocals are just the right amount of shrill. But it's a good sort of musical déjà vu, and not entirely derivative of Sabbath and the hard rockin' sounds of early '70s psyche-metal. Witchcraft's sound is more deliberate, easy-going and melodic without losing its sinister appeal. The band is currently touring in support of its third album, The Alchemist, and is joined on the road by Saviours, a self-styled "piss-angry metal band" from Oakland, Ca. that's been called Mastadon's "heir apparent" by Cali music publication ZeroMag. A great Halloween week show. Mon., Oct. 29, 9 p.m., Crowbar, 1812 N. 17th St., Ybor City, $8, 813-241-8600, crowbarlive.com.
This article appears in Oct 24-30, 2007.