Sorceress Bitch

Colombia’s got a pretty busy brutal death metal scene, and some black metal to boot, but it’s not often I hear a band such as Witchtrap, clinging heavily to their 80s thrash influences with a crispy blackened veneer. Perhaps Norway’s Aura Noir is the best comparison, though Witchtrap are a little more lowbrow and ferocious.

The vocals of Burning Axe Ripper are vicious, very reminiscent of Mille from Kreator during his dirtier period in the early 80s. The riffing is fast and hammering throughout “Dark Lord” and “Ripping Torment”, but the band actually excels on the groovier, slower paced “Dead of the Night”, the lightning attack title track, and the lengthy, varied “Gypsy Ritual/ Face the Evil”. If you fancy the old school German thrash of Kreator and Destruction, or the black metal prototypes Venom, Possessed, Hellhammer, and their peers, you can just sink right into the album and lose yourself, because you’ll be right at home.

Sorceress Bitch is a mean and hard mistress, with a production meant to wax nostalgic for its 80s influences rather than please the modern metal industry. Witchtrap are just as likely to bust out an old NWOBHM inflection in one of their riffs as a speed/thrash part, so it’s clear they have a healthy respect for the formative years of their craft. And I have a healthy respect for theirs, because this is a great, fun debut.

Highlights: Dead of the Night, Sorceress Bitch, Black Angel, Metal War

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

Simple music can always be some of the best music out there. You don’t always need any sort of tech wankery in your music to make it good. Witchtrap is a very simple band, playing very basic, simple thrash that’s just a whole lot of fun to listen to.

Pretty much this is basic thrash done by the books. Vocals are generally quick shouts, fast spitting and some shrieks that sounds like the ones done by Tom Araya from early Slayer. The vocalist has a Colombian accent that you can pick up on which is the only real flaw with the vocals, and it’s not even a big. You notice it pretty easy, but it doesn’t bother me at all, kind of makes the album sound a little more unique.

Drumming is pretty basic, doesn’t do anything to get in the way, no drum solos or anything like that, just doing its job. The bass is generally inaudible also which is kind of a drag, but the main focus of the album is the thrash riffs. The riffs are simple, played fast in a chaotic, almost schizophrenic way, and they usually all end with quick melodic passages before transitioning into the next riff. The solos in each of the songs are rather melodic, with quick jolt of melody then back to aggressive thrash.

When you listen to the overall album and notice the production you wouldn’t think that this album came out in 2002. The sloppy and gritty production would almost make you think it came out in the late 80’s. And if it sounds like the 80’s I’m fine with that, everything that came out in the 80’s is certainly better than most stuff that comes out nowadays.

Anyways, this is a great old-school style thrash with a gritty production and some pretty good riffs. Worth checking out if you’re into thrash that’s played a little sloppier than your normal thrash act.