Windhand's bewitching metal brew

Since 2008, Richmond, Va.-based five-piece Windhand has made a name for itself among esoteric metal circles — its reputation first taking shape with the group's 2012 self-titled debut for Forcefield Records. Bewitching vocalist Dorthia Cottrell's occult-oriented lyrics make Windhand a doom metal band at heart, but bandmates Asechiah Bogdan (ex-Alabama Thunderpussy) and Garrett Morris' dual guitar assault carry the band's sound into sludge and stoner territory. The relentless rhythm section of drummer Ryan Wolfe and bassist Parker Chandler (Cough) complete the sound that caught the attention of indie metal giant Relapse Records, which issued the group's 2013 LP, Soma.

Windhand's yet-to-be-titled third album was recorded with Seattle-based producer and engineer Jack Endino, a heavy rock fixture who was behind the controls on everything from Nirvana's Bleached and Mudhoney's Superfuzz Bigmuff in the late '80s to more recent albums by Relapse acts including Sleep guitarist Matt Pike's band High on Fire. "I don't think we could have entrusted any other engineer with the task," Chandler says. "His name is important to each of us for different reasons ... We knew that getting him involved wasn't an outlandish idea."

At 71 minutes long, according to Chandler, it's the longest album that Endino has ever worked on. It's also a major step up in production quality for Windhand, landing the group in a position to raise its profile as a cultural force within America's underground metal scene. The only missing piece of the album, due out during Relapse's ongoing 25th anniversary celebration, is the cover art.

Sludge metal marathons such as Soma's final number, "Boleskine," which clocks in at a half-hour, are the result of improvisation. "It always starts with a couple of riffs and we find ways to string them into a song," Chandler says. "Sometimes a person will have a riff outline in mind, but we never try to fit a song into a specific time frame. They're done when we dig what's been done."

Chandler explains that "Bolesine" is pieced together from a six- to eight-minute collection of riffs on an acoustic guitar that kept growing as the band worked out its final arrangement. "It's actually longer than the reel tape we used, so it had to be pieced together," he says.

In the meantime, Windhand finds itself in the enviable position of sharing the stage with stoner metal icons Sleep on two consecutive nights, May 3-4. The group may be on its way to reaching a new high in the realms of doom and stoner metal with the Endino-produced Soma. Sharing the stage opening for one of the genres' measuring sticks doesn't hurt, either. "We got to play with them in Philly last August, so I guess it went well," Chandler says. "When the second Atlanta show got added, I thought, 'Oh shit, we probably shouldn't play the same set on both nights.'"