Hellwitch: Syzygial Miscreancy (1990)

I have covered Hellwitch a couple of times in the last year, starting with their 2009 album Omnipotent Convocation and then going back to a couple of their early demos.  But covering Hellwitch seems incomplete unless there is eventually some discussion about the album that has made Hellwitch a cult favorite.  I am talking about this album, Syzygial Miscreancy, and no, I have no idea what that means.

This album is crazy.  It is an explosive and wild collection of riffs and solos that go in all directions at once.  The songs are not really cohesive units, rather they are a barely coherent combination of sections thrown together.  And yet, the album is fucking awesome.  Part of the reason for that is the obvious talent level of the musicians involved.  The riffs are amazing, it does not really matter that they barely fit together.  This is absolutely an album for fans of technical guitar playing. 

I will give Hellwitch credit where I complain about a lot of other technical bands.  Even though there is so much variety, the music never sounds overly clinical or soulless.  The songs still sound organic, even if they have completely run amok. 

I have discussed many times about how thrash was maturing in the early 1990's and a number of bands were becoming highly technical and instrumentally proficient.  This is yet another such example.  Hellwitch skirted the line between thrash and death metal, but they retained a stunning ability to write technically impressive music.  This album is terrific and a well-deserved cult classic. 

Hellwitch Demos

Today is a two-fer.  Because they are pretty short and I got them at the same time, I will be covering both Anthropophagi and Transgressive Sentience.  Hellwitch has their own online store where you can acquire most of their recordings in most formats, including demos.  I am still looking for Syzygial Miscreancy on cassette, which is not easy, nor cheap to find.  But the store is very helpful for most things.

TRANSGRESSIVE SENTIENCE (1986)

Starting off, we have Hellwitch's second demo.  The first track is the only one that would appear on the band's first album.  Due to how early in Hellwitch's career this one was released, it is no surprise that this one is a little bit rough.  But most of the elements that Hellwitch would later make up their sound can be discerned.  The band sounds like a slightly more technical blend of early Death and Venom.  Listening to it back to back with the next demo sounds like listening to two different bands.  Despite this, the rawness is endearing and this is a pretty intriguing demo.

ANTHROPOPHAGI (1994)

First of all, love the H.R. Giger artwork on the cover of this.  Of course, it has appeared on other albums before, including Triptykon's Melana Chasmata.  As this demo was released after Hellwitch had already put out their first full-length album, it finds the band in a much more finalized state.  All of the technical elements and the typical whirlwind of riffs that made Hellwitch so intriguing are present.  Oddly, one of the songs, "Fate at Pain's End", appears on Transgressive Sentience as well, but not on the album.  This is probably the better of the two demos, even if only based on how much more mature the band sounds.  This would be the last release from Hellwitch for several years.   

Hellwitch: Omnipotent Convocation (2009)

Yes, this album is already several years old.  I just recently picked it up though and that does not stop me from reviewing it now.  Especially since Hellwitch is a band that more people should be aware of.

Hellwitch's debut album Syzygial Miscreancy is revered as an underground metal classic.  Unfortunately, the band split up before they were able to release a worthy successor.  For a while anyway.  The band re-formed, sort of, a few years later, but it still took until 2009 before the follow-up to their debut was finally released.  Only singer/guitarist Patrick Ranieri has remained with the band throughout its history, with a bit of a revolving door of other musicians.  So it is probably fair to say that the band is his brainchild.

The sound of Hellwitch is rooted in the technical thrash that was emerging in the late 1980's/early 1990's with groups like Atheist, Heathen, Sadus, and the like.  But Hellwitch is more extreme with more of a death metal leaning through the heavier riffing style and the rougher vocal style.  Think a thrashier Death on Individual Thought Patterns, and you have a pretty good idea.  But where Death started heading in that direction after releasing a few standard death metal releases, Hellwitch was always on that track.  It seems almost backwards then that Hellwitch covers the Death classic "Infernal Death".

Hellwitch is damn fast, with blindingly fast riffs, pounding drums, and throbbing bass.  The vocals are delivered in an aggressive sneer that Bobby "Blitz" Ellsworth would be proud of.  The band keeps things interesting by employing frequent time signature changes, tempo changes, and even the occasional out-of-left-field passage that sounds like an entirely different band.  All of this results in one hell of a good listen.  My personal favorite track on the album is "Epitome of Disgrace" which seems to be the best example of all of the technicality and brutality coming together for one perfect song.  Everything Hellwitch was working towards throughout the album came together with perfect clarity here.

As I said before, Hellwitch should be a more well-known band.  They remain legends in the Florida metal scene for good reason, but they are criminally overlooked elsewhere.  It has already been ten years since this album was released without much new material from them.  Hopefully something else drops soon.