WITCH'S HAT - "HUZZAH!" (Single) - 2007

Witch's Hat (lead singer pictured above) was a group of hipsters from the shitty college town of Columbia, MO who were active in the middle part of the last decade (2004-08). They weren't metal, but often used metal imagery in their work. In reality, I've always had the creeping suspicion that they were a bunch of indie dickheads into that hipster irony thing, but I could be wrong. Here is their logo:

They released two albums Mastery of the Steel, on Emergency Umbrella Records, and Spain, which was self-released. Their music is a mish mash of fantasy themed, amateurish indie rock and distorted Ween weirdness, which, all in all, isn't particularly interesting. In fact, despite the fact that their songs are about aliens, vampires, sea creatures, and other kick ass subjects, most of it is downright boring and will get on your nerves worse than Agnosia... but they did write one good song.

"Huzzah" is piece of accidental brilliance. A medieval epic about a young dragon slayer and his quest, the song is replete with imagery of days of old: dragons, wizards, a kidnapped virgin princess, trolls, swords, and "goblets raised up high". It begins slow, with a flute intro and as the tale unfolds builds into a raucous, anthemic celebration of nerdy fantasy rock that's simultaneously hilarious and inspiring. It's one of my favorite songs of the last decade, but I didn't find it on any top ten or top 100 lists so I decided to post it here.

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