One-Off Wonder: Seasons of the Witch - Gotham Road - 2003

Much like the great sole entry from Graves, Web of Dharma, Michale Graves' Gotham Road project was extremely short-lived and produced a single EP, Seasons of the Witch, during its fast and furious lifespan. Evolving from Graves, Gotham Road starting sharing demos online of re-recorded Graves numbers along with some new originals around 2002. The EP appeared via website mail-order in 2003 and featured the following tracklisting:

1. Seasons of the Witch
2. Sidewalk Ends
3. Melts Away
4. Say Something
5. Creo Burn
6. Bits of Skin
7. You Awful Me

Gotham Road toured throughout 2003 and 2004, selling the CD on the road and also briefly marketed a live DVD, Seasons of the Witch 2K3.

Seasons of the Witch is a raw record, sounding even more like a demo than Web of Dharma. It features a heavier, more traditionally metal sound and the guitar and bass (Loki and J.V. Bastard) are mixed significantly lower than the vocals and drums (Graves and Paul Lifeless). Graves' vocal approach is very similar to his previous work and, while good stuff retaining a very distinctive sound, none of the tracks quite stand out as absolute killer. It's a damn shame the band wasn't around long enough to develop more material. Leadoff title track "Seasons of the Witch" is the album's highlight:

The Seasons of the Witch CD is virtually impossible to find but Michale Graves resurrected it in MP3 download form via his website in 2008. Complete with new artwork, it more than doubles in length, adding four bonus tracks and four of the original demos:

1. Attack of the Butterflies
2. On My Way
3. Drain
4. All The Cars
5. Bits of Skin (demo)
6. Say Something (demo)
7. Creo Burn (demo)
8. Seasons of the Witch (demo)

A nice .zip file of the 15-track record along with a great new cover can be yours for eight bucks at Graves' site.