Deathwitch
Violence Blasphemy Sodomy
Wicked World/Earache
Why beat around the fucking bush with a lengthy exegesis? The band’s name is Deathwitch, for fuck’s sake; you already know what they’re gonna sound like. There will be no jazz odyssey on the bluntly titled Violence Blasphemy Sodomy. In fact, there will be no musical niceties on this record whatsoever; no polish, no compromise. And if compromise is indeed the devil talking, then Deathwitch have made Venom’s maxim “At War With Satan” their life’s maxim. To that, I have to add an enthusiastic assent. Deathwich are aggressively, arrogantly ugly.
A.D.D. headcase Terror (Sacrementium, Swordmaster) is the bile-fuelled heart and soul of Deathwitch, along with whatever other amphetamine addicts and (Impetigo) obsessives he can bully at that particular moment. In fact, odds are that he’s driven whomever played on Violence Blasphemy Sodomy out of the band by this point.
Vocalist Terror uses the word “fuck” about two million times more than the words “Satan” or “darkness” in the course of the album. (They use it lovingly and creatively, like an artist with paint on his/her canvas.) He mostly dispenses with indulgent displays pf occultism and dark magick to wallow in humanity’s ugliest and basest urges. So a line like, “I don’t give a fuck / Fuck you fucking preachers / I hate you / I hate everything,” comes off as way more effective and transgressive than some Dimmu Borgir couplet, because it’s so much more direct and real. Dig? Later on, “Think you are a vampire / I think you are a pile of shit” drills the final nail in the coffin of gothic-metal, as the band wails away like Slayer at their finest. And “Bitchfinder” might just be the best song title ever, and it swings like Witchery at their finest.
The overall aural effect of Violence Blasphemy Sodomy is not unlike being trapped in a hurricane of razor blades and bloody feces. You’re fucked. The drumming is absolutely amazing: a storm of blast beats and/or raging double bass. The guitars are a serrated mess. And Terror presides over the whole thing with his rabid grunts and groans. Deathwitch stand head to head with bands like Niefelheim, Sarcofago, Autopsy, Massacre and Bathory. And probably a couple of sociopathic punk bands, too – think GG Allin or Poison Idea. Y’know, the good stuff. Omega thrash assault.
Earache: http://www.earache.com
