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| Artist..: Bewitcher |
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| Album...: Deep Cuts & Shallow Graves |
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| Genre...: Black Metal | Label...: Century Media |
| Year....: 2023 | Cat.No..: |
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| R.date..: 2023-11-16 | S.date..: 2023-11-17 |
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| Source..: WEB (24bit) | Encoder.: libFLAC |
| Bitrate.: 3126kbps avg. | F.Rate..: 96.0kHz |
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| http://open.qobuz.com/album/gttf38uyhr9lc |
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| Disc 1 / 1 |
| -------- |
| |
| 01. Manifesting Darkness 5:00 |
| 02. Our Lady of Speed 3:50 |
| 03. Bastard 3:05 |
| 04. Speed 'Til You Bleed (Midnight Hunters demo, 2015) 2:28 |
| 05. Midnight Hunters (Midnight Hunters demo, 2015) 3:41 |
| 06. Rome is on Fire (Midnight Hunters demo, 2015) 3:35 |
| 07. Wild Blasphemy (Wild Blasphemy demo, 2013) 4:10 |
| 08. Rebellion at the Gates of Heaven (Wild Blasphemy demo, 2013) 4:32 |
| 09. Black Speed Delirium (Wild Blasphemy demo, 2013) 3:12 |
| 10. Trial of Swords (Wild Blasphemy demo, 2013) 3:31 |
| 11. Bewitcher (Satanic Panic demo, 2013) 4:21 |
| 12. Sin is in Her Blood (Satanic Panic demo, 2013) 3:23 |
| 13. In the Night (Satanic Panic demo, 2013) 5:06 |
| 14. Harlots of Hell (demo, 2014) 3:34 |
| 15. Hot Nights, Red Lights (demo, 2014) 2:51 |
| 16. In the Sign of the Goat (demo, 2015) 5:31 |
| 17. Hedgerider (demo, 2015) 3:29 |
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| (1534.9MB) 01:05:19 |
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| Portland, Oregon's Bewitcher have been terrorizing the black and speed |
| metal landscape for over 10 years now. With strong releases like 2021's |
| Cursed Be Thy Kingdom, the band has been delivering their blackened, speed |
| and thrash sound in the veins of legendary acts like Venom, Bathory and |
| alongside fellow speed demons in Midnight and Hellripper. To celebrate a |
| decade of destruction, the band is releasing a compilation of some never |
| before heard deep cuts from their discography, some new songs, as well as |
| some origins of some of the band's heaviest and well known songs. Let's |
| raise our horns and bang our heads and dive into Bewitcher's origins and |
| legacy with this compendium of chaos. |
| |
| The album opens with "Manifesting Darkness", a thrashy and classic |
| sounding heavy metal track. Vocals from Unholy Weaver of Shadows & |
| Incantations are snarly and gritty, a hybrid of Cronos of Venom and Lemmy |
| Kilmister of Mot÷rhead. Delivering a blackened heavy metal sound to the |
| track, with almost elements of crust punk in its guitar playing. A strong, |
| headbanging opening track, that I can picture the pit going crazy for at |
| one of the band's shows. Great guitar solo by Unholy Weaver, over the |
| driving thrash-laden drums of Aris Wales. Following that new song is "Our |
| Lady of Speed". A great one-two punch from the previous song, the songs |
| unmatched energy along with pounding double bass adds that driving, |
| nostalgic sound of classic heavy metal and speed metal from the 80's. With |
| an awesome sounding chorus, with gang vocals and gritty vocals and wailing |
| guitars, it is such a heavy track and the band sounds like they are just |
| enjoying themselves in the performance. On their cover of M÷tley Crⁿe's |
| "Bastard", the song just sounds fun and invigorating. The vocals with a |
| gritty and gruff sound to it almost makes the song almost sound like a |
| Bewitcher original. Total fist-pumping essence and energy to the song and |
| an awesome cover of one of my favorites from Crⁿe and Bewitcher does a |
| great job covering it and making it their own in the band's performance. |
| |
| Now we get into the deep cuts of the band with songs from the band's early |
| demo releases. The next three tracks come off the Midnight Hunters 2015 |
| demo. "Speed 'Til You Bleed" opens with an amazing high scream and driving |
| pedal to the metal opening guitar riff with building drums. Definitely |
| more classic heavy metal sounding in its guitar tone and playing, but the |
| song is still heavy and just relentless speed and intensity with the |
| vocals and drums. Almost sounding like the band has been around since the |
| 80's with its performance, play style and production of the demo. And |
| production wise, sounds really good for a demo. The demo's title track |
| "Midnight Hunters" is another nostalgic tugging feeling track. The riff is |
| so catchy and toe-tapping, while banging your head and mimicking Unholy |
| Weaver's epic guitar strums before the chorus. The last one from this |
| demo, "Rome is On Fire", continues that heavy d-beat drumming and |
| gritty/gravely vocals with the pace slowed down a bit before kicking back |
| up to full speed in the pre-chorus and bridge, along with ominous chanting |
| amidst a driving drum and palm muted riff into a heavy and quick guitar |
| solo. Almost akin to Metallica's "Trapped Under Ice" in its style and |
| energy in the song's style and performance. |
| |
| The next four tracks come off the band's Wild Blasphemy 2013 demo. With |
| the opening horror-laden tinge on the demo's title track, the track builds |
| atmosphere before an awesome opening thrash-tinged guitar riff starts the |
| song. Vocals are almost more black metal in its delivery and its snarled |
| delivery. The song is speed metal in vein with the sound of the guitars |
| channeling Venom's early releases. Another fist-pumping sounding song, |
| which I can picture the crowd pumping along to the snare hits and banging |
| their heads along to it. "Rebellion at The Gates of Heaven" has a great |
| opening drum fill, leading into a classic 80's sounding style heavy metal |
| riff before we get HEAVY. The speed intensifies and hits that thrashy |
| feeling, the aggression and vocal delivery has a Kreator like feel to it |
| and it sounds SO good. Especially with the vocals soaked in reverb, making |
| his vocals sound so much more aggressive and demanding, matching the |
| song's go for the throat feel. "Black Speed Delirium" and "Trial of |
| Swords" are another great one-two punch of speed and thrash, soaked with |
| the essence of the heavy metal a lot of us grew up on. The band knows how |
| to juggle between speed, crust and black metal so well on these tracks. |
| And again, for demos, these have pretty damn good production. |
| |
| One of the last deep cuts comes from the band's 2013 demo Satanic Panic. |
| "Bewitcher" has an even more black metal production style on the vocals, |
| with so much cavernous reverbs, it makes it sound like Unholy Weaver is |
| shouting miles away from the band as they play front and center at a |
| hundred miles an hour and with full force. Though the cavernous vocals |
| might make lyrics a little hard to understand, the song's energy and |
| intensity makes up for it. Drums are prominent and punching hard in the |
| headphones, with fast, close to blast beat snare hits and double bass |
| leading the charge into the battle the band is crying out to start. "Sin |
| is in Her Blood" starts with fast-paced drumming and double bass, matched |
| with speed and driving tremolo-like guitar playing. Channeling the |
| torchbearers of early heavy metal with the technicality and heavy but also |
| catchy sounding guitar riffs. The last track from this demo is "In The |
| Night", with a more slowed down, opening, almost sludge metal sounding. |
| With its bass poking through the ringing guitars and building drums, the |
| song almost sets the stage for a grand presentation. Then the riff kicks |
| in, with the song continuing that classic drum heavy, fast chugging riff |
| with that Cronos/Lemmy hybrid vocals drenched in reverb. The song is a |
| strong, unrelenting song with the drums punching through and just |
| relentless hitting your ears with disregard for your hearing. |
| |
| "Harlots of Hell" starts with the screaming of the title and a thundering |
| bass behind it as the song kicks the door in, with the bass shining behind |
| the riff. Vocals are drenched in reverb and add intensity and force in the |
| delivery. Drums shine again with driving and speed at the halfway mark, |
| showing the band knows how to let everyone shine and when to lead and take |
| turns being highlighted. "Hot Nights, Red Lights" channels that M÷tley |
| Crⁿe energy in the riff. A fun sounding riff with the guttural and |
| harshness in the vocals to almost countering the effect makes the song |
| their own and I had the song actually a repeat a couple times before |
| moving on. "In The Sign of The Goat" starts with a nice, simple drum |
| pattern with wailing, reverb and chorus drenched guitars, building the |
| song with a classic heavy metal sounding opening. I love the riff picking |
| up when the vocals kick in, almost giving me an instant stank face "oh |
| that's good" feel. A little slower tempo than the other songs on the |
| album, it is an almost slow burn like feel to the track until the double |
| bass punches through on the chorus. "Hedgerider" closes the album out with |
| the band's beautiful amalgamation of traditional heavy metal, infused with |
| the gravelly and gritty black metal vocals, coinciding with driving drums |
| throughout the track |
| This record is a perfect summary of the band and is a great introduction |
| to fans who are checking out the band for the first time. The demo |
| versions, though again, sound REALLY good for demos, channel the band's |
| love and passion for speed metal and classic heavy metal, while tinging it |
| with elements of black metal in the vocal delivery. Bewitcher is one of |
| those bands you need to be listening to. With ten years of touring and |
| channeling the origins and paying homage to the legacy of this genre, this |
| band deserves more hype, more praise and is doing truly what heavy metal |
| is. Playing fast, loud, in your face, not giving a shit, and leaving you |
| wanting more. |
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