Bewitcher

All the best tunes belong to the Devil, and Portland’s bastard triptych BEWITCHER have returned to take back rock n’ roll in Baphomet’s name. Says bassist A. Magus on the unholy genesis of their new album: “Spell Shock is the product of playing 130 shows in a row and then going straight into writing and recording,” Indeed, BEWITCHER’s unrelenting post-COVID-era tour-grind for their 2021’s Cursed Be Thy Kingdom, alongside the likes of Municipal Waste, Goatwhore, Cavalera, and Exhumed became the fuel for their finest moment to date. Spell Shock lives up to its title. It’s riffs, filth, and fury at their most demonic and rebellious.

Joining frontman Mateo Von Bewitcher, bassist A. Magus, and drummer A. Hunter in the studio this time was none other longtime BEWITCHER fan Lars Frederiksen. Most of the world knows Frederiksen as a force in his own right, playing in the likes of Bay Area punk heroes Rancid, The Old Firm Casuals, and his own Lars Frederiksen and the Bastards. While to some, it may have been an unlikely pairing with Frederiksen taking the producer’s seat, for everyone in the studio the connection was immediate. Says Frederiksen on Spell Shock: "The best record I've ever produced."

Magus about their experience with vaunted producer: “[Lars’] knowledge of heavy metal, black metal, and thrash – as well as punk, is vast and extreme. It was definitely a match made in hell.” From Spell Shock’s pummeling first invocation, “Starfire Maelstrom”, BEWITCHER stake a bloody claim on making a metal record that’s equally classic and contemporary. With them, classic is undeniably key. “We kept coming back to classic heavy metal records for inspiration,” says Magus. “What we got was our take on classic '80s metal records using the tools we have today.” The band also credits engineer and mixer Chris Dugan, best known for his work with Green Day (Yes, Green Day, but listen to those guitars!), for nailing Spell Shock’s energized rawness. “We’ve always tried to be an old school band, without being or sounding like a retro or trad metal band,” adds Von Bewitcher.

Spell Shock is BEWITCHER at their most evolved and most devastatingly primal. “We wanted it to be an album experience,” says drummer A. Hunter. “Imagine King Diamond’s Abigail in terms of atmosphere merged with the energy of AC/DC’s High Voltage.”