This is a turn up for the books. Skeletonwitch, purveyors of the finest blackened thrash, return with their first full length release with a new vocalist and... They have changed. “The Apothic Gloom” hinted at this; longer songs, less thrashing and so on. Well, once “Fen of Shadows” gets going it does thrash, but it mostly black-metals (not a verb) throughout its considerable eight minute playing time. The track, really, is black metal of the modern variety.
There is a lot of riffage to get your teeth into on “When Paradise Fades”, but the riffs are more melancholic, less brutal, less aggressive. This isn't as serious a volte face as Paradise Lost after “Draconian Times”or anything, but this is certainly a different record from what can only be viewed as a different band.
The material here is uniformly of high quality and there are blasts, melodic riffs, excellent vocals and state of the art drums aplenty. How this will go over with the band's fan base is another matter. “Temple of the Sun” ups the thrash quota effectively and this is not Wolves In The Throne Room or anything like that, but the raw aggression of previous albums has been smoothed off- no rough edges here. The title track even has a clean intro- and slow pacing!
As the album enters the back stretch, the stylistic shift is cemented and there is no going back to the sound of “Breathing The Fire” et al. The triplet time feel of “The Vault” is great, the track sprawling and full of great riffs and performances. The three minute burn of “Carnarium Eternal” is the closest thing here to anything off “Serpents Unleashed” or “Beyond The Permafrost” and really lets rip with the killer riffs and changes. By the time of “Sacred Soil”, the band has done something that not many bands can pull off. They have changed their style and made a very good record.
Whether this is a record that fans of Skeletonwitch want to hear is another matter. Metal fans are notoriously traditional in their wants and needs from certain bands. I confess that this is very unlikely to usurp “Serpents Unleashed” or even “Forever Abomination” from my playlist, but that is just me- I want blackened thrash... I want Skeletonwitch to play it. The change here is akin to Belphegorjust becoming a straightforward black metal band and foregoing all the death metal elements of their sound. Make no mistake, this record is a victory but only time will tell if is a pyrrhic one in terms of the band's fan-base. Try it out as you may well love what they have done here; just forget their past.
Gritty and uncompromising, Whipstriker truly are “Soldiers of Sodom” and will cast their “Warspell” on you if you get a hold of this feral beast of an album.
“Merciless Artillery” CD//DD track listing:
1). Merciless Artillery
2). Rape of Freedom
3). Calm after Destruction
4). Mantas ’Black Mass
5). Solider of Sodom
6). Warspell
7). Enemies Leather
8). Bestial Hurricane
The Review:
Brazil's Whipstrikerare back- again- in their prolific career since 2008 they have amassed no less than four albums and countless split singles and so on. If you haven't heard the band, I can sum things up for you: Venom. This band are the hellish spawn of Mantas, Abaddon and Cronos- ably assisted by Bathory, Hellhammer and early Celtic Frost.
That tells you exactly what you are getting. This is a dark and rough listen- echoing Venom'slegendary debut and Motorhead's attitude perfectly. The title track kicks things off in gritty style- have a listen and you will know instantly if this is for you or not. Over the course of eight tracks, you get Venom, Sodom, Motorhead, Frost, Hellhammer, Bathoryand so on all wrapped into an appealingly raw production. The band has gone for vibe and attitude, not sound replacements and perfection. This really is a warts and all recording- there are some imperfections here and there for sure! That is of absolutely of no issue to me, though. There is also a fair amount of very smooth playing and surprisingly melodic riffing. This music is supposed to be rough and ready and Whipstriker have delivered their own vision.
If you are after anything in the style of the bands mentioned above, this album is a must. Gritty and uncompromising, Whipstriker truly are “Soldiers of Sodom”and will cast their “Warspell” on you if you get a hold of this feral beast of an album.
What ‘I Am Legion’ boils down to is this: Witchery proves here that they’re a band still capable of greatness and creatively this isWitchery’s best album in sixteen years.
‘I Am Legion’ CD//DD//LP track listing:
1. Legion
2. True North
3. Welcome, Night
4. Of Blackened Wing
5. Dry Bones
6. Amun-Ra
7. Seraphic Terror
8. A Faustian Deal
9. An Unexpected Guest
10. Great Northern Plague
11. The Alchemist
12. Ragnarök (Bonus Track)
13. Apex Ghoul (Bonus Track)
The Review:
It can be a challenge for fans and bands alike whenever a band ventures away from the sound that earned them their fan base. Not all fans are willing to make that journey with a band, and the new sound very rarely ever has the same meaning or impact as what came before. The Crown is an example where their later material suffered from their shift toward down-tuned death metal, all but leaving their speed metal leanings behind, and their musical charisma and personality disappeared with it. Over the years, Witchery’s albums fell at a similar trajectory to The Crown, though the changes they’ve made in style are less severe.
It’s easy to forget just how brief Witchery’s original peak really was. They released three top notch albums and an EP, all within a two-and-a-half year window: October 1998 to February 2001. Since then, their output has been a lot less frequent and less noteworthy. All of the albums following ‘Symphony For The Devil’ have been missing something to one degree or another as they’ve struggled to find their footing.
That brings us to ‘I Am Legion’ and while the Witchery of old and the Witcheryof now may not have as much in common as long time fans might like, they’ve clearly put themselves back on solid ground again. The album proper begins with its lead single “True North”, a deliberately-paced stomper, with a chorus that would have fit in nicely amongst Bathory’s viking metal material. The song is also something of a red herring, though nicely paired with “Welcome, Night”, another mid-paced, rhythm-centric track.
After that point, Witchery shifts into higher gears. “Of Blackened Wing” is a smorgasbord of riffs and styles, ranging from it’s Sabbathian opening riff, into crossover thrash, and even a pinch of recent Darkthrone in the song’s second half. As the album carries on, there’s a healthy balance of thrashing fury and fist-pumping mid-tempo heft. ‘A Faustian Deal’even flirts with Satyricon’s black n’ roll feel, though they find a way to make it fit within their own established stylistic framework. All of this variety definitely counts for something, but really it’s the inspired songwriting that carries this album, whatever the speed. Creatively, ‘I Am Legion” is Witchery’s best album in sixteen years.
What ‘I Am Legion’ boils down to is this: Witcheryproves here that they’re a band still capable of greatness. Getting back up to this level hasn’t been quick or easy for the band, and it’s hard to tell what changed during the brief period between this album and last year’s ‘In His Infernal Majesty's Service’. Whatever it was, they need to find a way to bottle it and save it for anything they do going forward because this is exactly where they needed to be, and it didn’t require reliving old sounds to get here. Witcheryis a great band again in 2017, and it’s a joy to be able to say it.
“I Am Legion” is available digitally here and on CD/LP here.
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