Guess who’s back? Those of you who don’t follow us on Facebook (you should) are probably wondering where the hell we went this past week. After all, it’s not like us to just disappear without notice. Well, as most of you know, “we” is essentially me: a one man operation. And when said one man gets knocked on his rear with yet another bout of COVID, it becomes that much harder to provide you, our loyal readers, with the latest and greatest content this side of the metal internet (that’s a promise). But fear not my devout maniacs! We are BACK with a vengeance, and so is Hellwitch!
Death metal aficionados are no stranger to the name Hellwitch. Although the band never achieved the global fame and relative fortune of their Floridian death metal peers, they were there from the very beginning, and by “they”, I mean Pat Ranieri. Over the course of nearly 40 years, Ranieri has kept Hellwitch alive through various incarnations, the latest featuring longtime guitarist J.P. Brown and rising star drummer Brian Wilson. Despite the band’s long running history, it isn’t often that they bestow a full length offering upon us. In fact, their latest outing, Annihilational Intercention, is only their third album overall, the rest of their catalog consisting of demos and EPs.
Taking all this into consideration, is Annihilational Intercention worth the wait? You bet your ass it is. While so many of their peers have succumbed to the evils of modern metal, outright laziness, or a combination of both, Hellwitch takes us back to the glory days of the late ’80s with a rabid collection of no nonsense death-thrashers. There is subtle technicality throughout, which has always been a staple of Hellwitch’s sound, but these facets are executed without sacrificing the brutality of the riffs. In other words, if you’re looking for a mindless wankfest characteristic of modern tech death, look elsewhere.
In a word, Annihilational Intercention can be described as merciless. The line between bone-crushing death and brutish thrash is flat out blurred on cuts like the wicked “Solipsistic Immortality”, flesh ripping “Delegated Disruption”, and pseudo-psychedelic (in the Floridian death metal tainted by 110 degree heat and LSD way) “Hellwitch”. Ranieri’s unique vocal delivery, one that ranges from frantic highs to militant grunts, serves as a welcome palette cleanser from the cookie monster gutturals that have been characteristic of death metal for 30 years. His wild lead work and pulverizing riffage further add depth to the album, as does the bombastic drumming of Wilson, who most certainly took a page from the Pete Sandoval playbook.
As the album progresses, our eardrums are battered by more infernal thrashers (“Epochal Cessation”) and prog death explorations (“Anthropophagi”, “At Rest”), before taking us home with a faithful re-recording of the ’86 cult classic, “Torture Chamber”. While I’m usually not the biggest fan of re-recordings, I can appreciate how this one takes us full circle so to speak. Plus, it smokes, as does this entire album. If you don’t like Annihilational Intercention, you don’t like death metal, end of discussion. May Hellwitch’s spell reign supreme in the underground for another 4 decades to follow!
8 out of 10
Label: Listenable Records
Genre: Death/Thrash Metal
For fans of: Atheist, Sadus, Death