Windhand

Hailing from Richmond, Virginia, Windhand offers a distinctive and atmospheric version of doom metal that echoes the intensity of Electric Wizard and Sleep. Their music fuses deep, trembling bass distortion and heavy percussive drive with light, floating vocal textures, thereby evoking longstanding doom traditions while expanding the boundaries of one of metal’s most crushing subgenres. The ensemble surfaced in 2010 and quickly built a fervent underground following before securing a contract with Relapse, which led to the release of the widely praised Soma album that earned placements on countless influential zine and web year-end roundups. Follow-up efforts such as the 2015 stoner-doom-focused Grief’s Infernal Flower and the 2018 psych-driven Eternal Return further established Windhand among the foremost heavy-music acts of the 2010s.

Assembled in 2008 with Dorthia Cottrell, Garrett Morris, Asechiah Bogdan, Nathan Hilbish, and Jeff Loucks at its core, the five-piece put out a two-track rehearsal-space demo in 2010. Loucks exited soon after, opening the drum seat for Ryan Wolfe, whose first recorded contribution arrived two years later on the self-titled debut album issued by Forcefield Records. That record achieved underground success and drew Relapse’s attention, prompting the label to sign the band. Hilbish departed next on bass, with Parker Chandler stepping in during 2013. The same year brought the group’s Relapse debut, a split release with fellow Virginia doom-sludge outfit Cough titled Reflection of the Negative. September saw the arrival of Soma, the band’s second full-length and its most favorably received and quickest-selling LP to that point. Windhand maintained a rigorous touring schedule through the remainder of 2013 and much of 2014, supporting and headlining across North America, Europe, and Australia. On Halloween they issued a split single with Swedish doom-metal act Salem’s Pot via Riding Easy Records. Cottrell released her own mostly acoustic, doomy Americana solo album in March 2015. Later that spring the band tracked its third long-player at Seattle’s Soundhouse Studio with producer and engineer Jack Endino, whose prior credits include Nirvana, Soundgarden, and High on Fire. Relapse put out Grief’s Infernal Flower in September. A split EP with Virginia doom-punk group Satan’s Satyrs appeared in 2018, followed later that year by the band’s fifth studio album, Eternal Return, again produced by Jack Endino.