Warlockhunt: Prey
(Pyrrhic Defeat)
CD / Download
Out 14 November
Our Score
North Wales masters of doom, Warlockhunt sludge out their debut album. Neil Crud gets crushed by bass and lifted by intent.
North Wales’ Warlockhunt aren’t your usual sludge / doom outfit. A three-piece built around two bass guitars and drums – no six-string guitars anywhere in sight – they’ve spent the past few years cultivating a reputation for dense, low-end punishment and an eerie atmosphere. Their debut album, ‘Prey’, released on Pyrrhic Defeat Records, proves that this minimalist setup isn’t a gimmick; it’s heavy without the cliché – it’s a mission statement.
From the opening ebbing rumble of Turn Away, it’s clear this isn’t a band trying to out-heavy anyone else; they’re digging deeper instead. The twin basses weave around each other — one anchoring the subsonic floor, the other snarling through gothic distortion — while the cymbals roll and crash with deliberate, tectonic weight as the drums rumble in at something like 20bpm!
And then there’s Lorraine’s voice. Cool, detached, almost ghostly, she floats above the sound like a calm eye in the distant storm. It’s a contrast that gives Warlockhunt their edge. Her delivery carries menace and melancholy in equal measure, turning what could have been pure sludge into something far more hypnotic.
Diary Of Hate and Your Flaw, Your Fate showcase how the band manipulate repetition and space. Riffs grind in slow circles, drums pulse like a heartbeat, and each pause feels as loaded as every crash. There’s a strange beauty in the bleakness; you can hear echoes of Kylesa, Windhand, maybe even Godflesh, but Warlockhunt’s stripped-down approach gives them their own sonic fingerprint.
Just over midway through, Fake injects a grim groove that borders on danceable — if your dancefloor was sinking into tar. The title track, Prey, is a slow collapse into nothingness: a Killing Joke death march that precedes the closing You Fall. This is almost uptempo that ends not with a bang but a drawn-out exhale, and a weird drinking mantra, leaving you hollowed out but oddly satisfied.
For a record that lives in the sub-frequencies, Prey sounds remarkably alive. The mix (done at Orange Studios in Penmaenmawr) captures the physicality of their live sound — you can practically feel the air move. Nothing’s overproduced; everything breathes.
And it’s that sense of restraint that makes the album so effective. Where others pile on layers of fuzz and volume, Warlockhunt trust their space. Every hit, every hum, every echo lands with purpose.
‘Prey’ isn’t a debut that tries to impress with polish or flash. It’s a statement of intent — eight tracks of low-end meditation on pressure, anger, and endurance. Heavy, yes, but with a rare sense of control and identity.
For a first full-length, it’s a triumph of focus and feel. If you want sludge with real substance, doom with design, ‘Prey’ deserves your time and your best speakers.
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