ALBUM REVIEW: Cursed Be Thy Kingdom – Bewitcher

While blackened speed metal a la VENOM, MIDNIGHT or HELLRIPPER may not have had the tsunami-like wave of popularity enjoyed by the retro-thrash movement of the mid 2000s or the ongoing old-school death metal revival, you’d be a fool to mistake the relatively small number of up-and-coming outfits as a sign of weakness. In fact, you’d need look no further than BEWITCHER to see the blackened speed metal scene, niche and cult though it may be, is in rude health. The Portland-based trio led by Matt Litton dropped their self-titled debut back in 2016, though it wasn’t until 2019’s Under the Witching Cross they really started to generate a buzz. Now they’re back with their third LP and Century Media Records debut, Cursed Be Thy Kingdom – and if you thought Under the Witching Cross was good, you ain’t heard nothing yet. 

In recent years, an introductory track has become almost obligatory, while simultaneously bringing nearly nothing of real worth to a record. It’s typically a couple of minutes of filler, potentially some reasonable atmosphere building, but rarely an exciting addition to a record. Not so with Ashe. Rather than being a buffer before the real goodness starts, the intro track immediately shows the listener they’re in for a serious sonic change from what BEWITCHER have delivered before – deeply melodic with absolutely stunning blues guitar licks offer up something we’ve not heard before from the Portland ragers. That’s not to say they’ve done a total 180-turn, though – they are still the the occult-obsessed, speed metal Satanists you fell in love with when they dropped Under the Witching Cross, but they have some new weapons in their sonic arsenal.

Death Returns… is quintessential speed metal, in all its blackened glory. High tempo, loaded with hooks and more energising than an IV of pure caffeine, BEWITCHER wrap up the classic speed metal bones with their trademarked blackened snarl, and new-found love of classic blues oozing through the melodious and riff work. Lead single Satanic Magick Attack keeps that momentum and doubles down, bluesy trad-metal riffs working with Litton‘s brilliant vocal patterns and cadence wonderfully delivering an offering more catchy than it has any right to be, while Electric Phantom is nothing short of the pure essence of speed metal taking form.

Well into the main body of Cursed Be Thy Kingdom, Mystifier (White Night City) brings the tempo – but most certainly not the quality – down a notch. Here BEWITCHER‘s approach is a less of a flurry of speed and aggression, taking a more melodious route and letting those blues influences shine a bit stronger – especially in the soloing. Again, Litton‘s vocal performance is exemplary here – his vocal patterns are excellent, and there’s a real clarity to his snarled vocals that help give the track a level of catchiness that defies explanation. A perfect chance for a breather before Cursed Be Thy Kingdom‘s title track comes in like battering ram. Eviscerating, Cursed Be Thy Kingdom is all about the speed, a burst of pure violence that hits all the harder thanks to the more melody driven Mystifier (White Night City) that came before.

Album highlight Valley of the Ravens has a more mid-tempo stomp, comparatively doomy in the wake of Cursed Be Thy Kingdom‘s whirlwind title-track. Trad-metal riffs, crystal-clear vocals and passages that aren’t dripping with reverb so much as absolutely drowning in the stuff all offer up a lovely change of pace. The real wow factor comes in the instrumental break in the final third or so – here BEWITCHER come full circle back to the blues-driven wonders of Ashe to spectacular effect.

From here, it’s a sprint to the finish. Metal Burner is once pure a textbook example of near-perfect speed metal – blisteringly fast and hook-filled, it hits like a sledgehammer before penultimate track The Widow’s Blade brings another dose of epic to the table. Earworm riffs, some more bluesy melodies that now seem integral to BEWITCHER‘s sonic arsenal and a stadium-inviting chorus all come together wonderfully to tee up Sign of the Wolf. And you couldn’t really ask for a more fitting ending to Cursed Be Thy Kingdom – some of the heaviest riffing the album has to offer mixed in with some of Litton‘s best vocal work, Sign of the Wolf is short and punch to the extreme, agonising in that it marks the end of an album that is truly remarkable.

With heavy music often being an outlet for the darker elements of the human psyche, “fun” is a quality sometimes left to the gimmicky festival bands – bands who are seeming hilarious while you’re fourteen beers deep in a field in the middle of summer, but offer little artistic merit otherwise. Cursed Be Thy Kingdom decisively puts an end to any such thoughts. Blending Satanic blackened speed metal with the blues that stand as the very origin of heavy music with an unprecedented level of mastery, BEWITCHER have delivered a career defining opus, and above all, one of the most unflinchingly fun records you’re likely to hear all year.

Rating: 9/10

Cursed Be Thy Kingdom is set for release April 16th via Century Media Records. 

Like BEWITCHER on Facebook.