by Alex Milstein (@thrillstein)
When the world is on fire, sometimes it’s best to embrace your anger, and that’s exactly what Watcher have done with their latest album Punishment. First started back in 2013, the band went through a few different members before recording a demo, a split with Sallow, and the Taman Shud EP. Influenced by American death metal like Morbid Angel and Death, sludge rockers like Harvey Milk, along with Revolution Summer-era bands, Punishment is a clear refinement of Watcher’s sound.
The album title alone hints at the brutality behind the music, and lyrics match that sentiment. Lyric writing is split between David Reichly and Noel Richards, who both play guitar and sing, and Richards’ lyrics are all about “punishers.” For example, “Few Long While” and “Thoss Roag” are both about people and situations that pissed Richards off while on different tours. “Druthers” is about a roommate situation that was “a source of frustration for him, to put it lightly.”
Reichley’s lyrics are equally as pissed off, with songs about letting yourself down in a romantic relationship (“Two Cups”), losing touch with close friends (“Sway”) and resenting people for behaviors/qualities that you can empathize with or see in yourself (“Mirrors Pt. 1” and “Mirrors Pt. 2 & 3”). But it’s “Thickneckbreeder / Mask” that most encapsulates Watcher’s overall sound and credo. The track consists of two songs that sounded too good together to split up, and Watcher pulls out all the stops -- off-kilter, thunderous drums; monstrous vocals that make you want slam your head into a brick wall; and groovy, even danceable bass lines that pierce through chaotic guitars.
The subject matter of the two songs is also similar. “Thickneckbreeder” is sung from the perspective of looking at someone else and being disgusted/horrified by the things they do, how their behavior is tolerated and rationalized, and how other people have to deal with the consequences of that behavior. Fittingly, “Mask” is about seeing that toxicity in yourself and how awful that is, and unpacking your own problematic nature.
Reichley explains: “Both songs were written in the midst of a lot of things happening both nationally and within our local community in Nashville around the exposing of sexual/gender-based violence and abuse. Seeing the shit that went down in Nashville and the DIY community we were part of during the mid/late-2010’s (and that still happens today), where people I knew and was friends with were exposed for being abusive and hurtful people really made me reflect on myself. How could I be confident in my impressions of people and be so wrong? How did I fit into a community where so many people were hurt?”
The subject matter throughout the album is heavy but often necessary to discuss and think about. While anger seems like the theme of the album, it’s more complicated than that. Reichley thinks a well-known quote he found after writing and recording the album sums it up better: “You aren’t punished for your anger, but by your anger.”
In relation to Punishment, Reichley explains that this idea has more to do with how anger affects attitudes toward yourself and others, and your relationships with people.
“Having anger as a response to something is healthy and valid, but holding onto that anger maybe has unhealthy and unproductive effects,” he says. “I feel anger when I think of the prevalence of abuse in our community. And at a point, even if you’re not perpetrating any abusive actions, if enough people in your social circle are, you have to acknowledge and analyze your part in that community. I don’t think there’s a Millennial cis male out there today who doesn’t need to really reflect on the toxicity they have inherited and either consciously or ignorantly perpetuated.”