Wood Witch – Synna Modor

by Mark 'Yeti' Richard · April 12, 2025

Wood Witch is a three-piece doom/ stoner metal band from Virginia. Formed in 2019, the band have released three full length albums so far: 2021’s Malleus Maleficarum, 2022’s Eyes of Darkness, and their latest, 2025’s Synna Modor. The band consists of Daniel Perry on guitar and vocals, Wade “Wigz” Johnson on bass, and Ryan Mardre on drums. Synna Modor was released on March 1st 2025 and contains ten tracks at forty two minutes long.

“Solitude Is My Name” begins with a righteous doom riff that unleashes a heavy Sabbath groove. The vocals have a powerful vibrancy of melodic singing. The band has a classic Trouble sound happening with the riffs that are simply crushing and satisfying. The drums are solid and display some cool fills on certain parts. The guitar leads sound great and are not overly flashy but captures the perfect dynamics for the song. “Stones Of Scorn” begins with the drums and then kicks into a heavy crunchy rhythm. The pace is more upbeat on this track and the vocals float in nicely with the stream of the riffs. The guitar leads again work well gliding along to the rhythm of the song, and there’s a classic eighties heavy metal essence to it too. The third track, called “Under Salem’s Shadow” is another great rocker in the tradition doom wheel house. The sound quality on Synna Modor is great! The production is loud and clear and nothing is overpowering, which is a very pleasant listening experience. The straight forward doom approach is done with a charming elegance that is reminiscent of Pentagram, Candlemass, and other past icons of the genre. The title track “Synna Modor” is a prime example of the beauty of keeping the music fresh and engaging with a reminiscent sound from the past. The witch themes are also a nice touch to sell the band’s circulating doom metal sound.

“Black Dahlia” is another solid number that has that lumbering groove to the rhythm. The catchy chorus is really cool along with the guitar leads that delivers a striking metal feel. “Suspiriorum” begins with clean mellow guitars with some wind and thunder storm textures mixed in. The instrumental song kicks into a sludgy doom riff and utilizes heavy accents. The music expands into some excellent harmonic guitar leads and waves of psychedelia, and then fades away with more softer clean guitar parts. The next track, “Nocturnal Rite” has a mid pace crunching rhythm to start off and then breaks into a dynamic bridge led by the drums. A warm and inviting bass and captivating classical sounding guitars envelop the song for a minute or so. The distortion kicks back on and the song shifts back into the starting metallic crunch.

The eighth track, “Darkness Within” has a slow and steady groove that evokes the heavy doom. The siren dirge of the guitars delivers the heavy hook that sinks right into the brain. “The Sabbath” begins with a cool guitar riff that illuminates with the bass and then cranks into the doom brigade. The harmonic guitar leads colors the heavy riffage that frequent some nice and simple percussive fills. The instrumental track then jams into the Black Sabbath “Sweet Leaf” riff to fade out the song. Finally on the tenth track, Wood Witch brings out the thrash metal riffage. Entitled “Raise The Dead”, the song has an old school heavy menacing rhythm that has a catchy chorus wrapped around it, with backing vocals and all. The stoner parts are pretty subtle on this album but the band wave the flag of traditional doom with integrity and conviction. Synna Modor is overall an excellent album and the band really does a fantastic job at keeping the songs organic and vital. They wear the Sabbath influences on their sleeves but they are committed to delivering a memorable and alluring output of great doom metal songs.