Witchtanic Hellucinations is destined to be a classic of the horror music genre. Psychedelic, It is what Black Sabbath or Deep Purple would have made had they discovered brutality before its time. Upon first listen it sounded like it could have been released in the late 80's early 90's. It had that Autopsy and early Impetigo feel to it. Still though that only adds to the murkiness and dark matter that surrounds this opus. Acid Witch are one of the latest bands to sign to Razorback, an original and outstanding record company that has been releasing old school thrash, doom, death, gore and grind to the extreme loving universe for years. This is Acid Witch's debut album which is a conceptual album based around witches, the macabre and deadly ritual spells. Musically speaking it's pretty damn refreshing. The bass shines through on most tracks which adds a really thick and heavy layer to the high pitched guitars which keeps an equal slow chugging with the drums. Lasse's vocals are gutteral and are what I come to expect for slow paced doom/death. In the song The Black Witch there is a really cool wa- wa effect that repeats itself a few times, it also emerges again in Swamp Spells for a short while before a witches cackle could be heard and then again till the song ends. An eerie sounding organ on the title track that has that Doors and Iron Butterfly feel, is sort of cheesy but does add to the many textures of the song. Acid Witch is all about experimenting with odd sounds, unorthodox beats and sound imagery that makes Witchtanic Hellucinations the best thing in a long time to emerge from the horror hives. Acid Witch is, in my opinion, the future of horror metal and Lasse, Shagrat, and Dave (LSD) I hope will continue to make scary music together. This is definitely for fans of Autopsy, Necrophagia, old Mortician, Repulsion and Impetigo.
(review by shagnarokvonlustmord)
