Bewitcher - Bewitcher (2016)

Seriously, what is with these electronic introductions to classic albums? Is metal changing over to wave music or something? I love both, but I find it quite odd that such a produced electronic wave would accompany such a rough and rowdy approach as is offered by this official debut from these US black/speed metallers. They're from Oregon – Portland, to be exact – but that's no reason for me to start throwing hipster jokes because of the wave introduction to the album. Right? Basically, we've got a Motorhead and Venom inspired act that you might also compare to bands like Midnight, Sodom, Toxic Holocaust, Power From Hell, Joel Grind and several others in this vein. There's no doubting the Motorhead here, which was just influential to Bewitcher as it was to Venom when they first started this stuff and called it “black metal” back in the eighties. The approach here isn't very different, but it's certainly a solid record that delivers a no-frills approach to black/speed metal. Guitarist/Frontman Unholy Weaver has been studying his early Motorhead records quite furiously, as I'm hearing quite a bit of that here, and I have no problem with it. It's more or less just classic heavy metal with a harsher bark than what Lemmy gave us and there's nothing wrong with that. Occasionally Diabolic Crusher will punch the kit into higher gear, showing off that more extreme “black metal” side, but I'm a bit more interested in the overall guitar-theatrics of the performance. It's all about the chugging atmosphere here, casting the lyrics aside as unimportant. I like this disc for the attention to detail, regardless of how some might say that these guys are kind of ripping off the classics. But can you blame kids these days? Some won't even listen to the greats because they've been somehow convinced that they're too old and dated, so we need bands like Bewitcher to come out with new records and take this new generation by storm. If you won't listen to the old shit, then here's some old shit repackaged as new shit. There ya go, embrace metal in 2016. Forty years and still going strong, metal is only further accentuated in it's awesomeness by bands like Bewitcher who we hope to hear for many years to come.

(9 Tracks, 33:00)

7/10