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. Not only is their new studio album, “Spell Shock”, out today, but also a video for the title track that was created by lucamainardi.graphics with band footage by A. Magus and art direction inspired by Solomacello who created the stunning artwork of the album. Tune in and get spell shocked.
Video by licamainardi.graphics
Says bassist A. Magus on the unholy genesis of the 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 80’s 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.”
Artwork by Rami Mursula
2024 has seen the band blast through Europe, Mexico and the US with Portland Black Metal practitioners UADA, and Century Media labelmates Upon Stone for a string of dates that included the legendary Milwaukee Metal Fest. Bewitcher are currently “Fragmenting North America” on a co-headline North American tour with labelmates Skeletal Remains, featuring a rotating package of some of the underground’s most extreme bands: Phobophilic, Torture Rack, Witch Vomit, and Morgul Blade!
After a North America Tour they are coming back to Europe:
10/30 (BE) Kortrijk – DVG
10/31 (NL) Eindhoven – Café The Jack
11/1 (DE) Oldenburg – MTS Records
11/2 (NL) Leeuwarden – Mukkes
11/3 (DE) Kassel – GoldGrube
11/4 (DE) Stuttgart – Schwarzer Keiler
11/6 (SE) Gothenburg – The Abyss
11/7 (NO) Oslo – Revolver
11/8 (SE) Motala – Bomber Bar
11/9 (SE) Umea – House of Metal Fest
Line-Up:
A. Hunter – drums & percussion
Mateo Von Bewitcher – vox & guitars
A. Magus – bass guitar & backing vox
Photo by Nate Souza (left to right: A. Hunter, Mateo Von Bewitcher, A. Magus)
