Witchmaster/Voidhanger
Razing The Shrines Of Optimism
(Third Eye Temple)
Assessing the split LP from Witchmaster and Voidhanger purely on the virtue of its title, I expect the content is going to be bleak. I get the timing.
I’m not too optimistic either these days.
Up front is Witchmaster and they’re frosty and relentlessly fast. Their opening of three tracks, “Permafrost” is a harsh storm of technically deft speed metal, fronted by a cascade of growling vocals. It’s an icy nugget of good old-fashioned thrash with a fairly clear sense of itself, wicked grooves and vocals surprisingly clear enough to howl to. To unfamiliar audiences, Witchmaster proves that as a band, they are back to basics, not delving into anything too progressive, a welcome respite from unnecessary deviations.
Their second song, “Tanz Debil” distorts vocals and twists a thorn-encrusted punk metal fist into your temple; but it’s a welcome slam, trust me. The band performs that style with aplomb and this track in particular making me want to hear more like it.
By their last though, “Infernal Morbid Death” the Warsaw band has seized the album’s titular theme in nearly six minutes worth of black metal. I would welcome better production on the Witchmaster side, at least something a bit cleaner, but the embittered mix may be by design. The band has been hammering tracks for two decades and its clear that they know the rotten thing in their craw by name and reputation.
I am slightly less bullish on Voidhanger, an Australian band that in the interest of full disclosure, I’ve never heard before. They are significantly darker and messier than their counterparts in a way that I can immediately appreciate. “Burnout Hearts Exhibition” is in a word, defiant, full of gut punches, fist pumps and bloody lips. The vocals are, understandably, all over the map. The track is riff heavy, everything leaning back on a thorny assault of speedy guitars.
The Voidhanger side lacks the former’s variety, and their offering makes me a little antsy for more in the way of imagination. These three tracks fall short of that though. Saying nothing about quality, they come across in a formulaic way. It’s not fresh.
I don’t want to say that anything entitled “Through The Holocaust of Optimism” is mailing it in, but I’m not particularly moved anywhere besides back to Witchhanger.
