Swedish metal band Bewitched's 2006 album 'Spiritual Warfare' starts off with an excellent three and a half-minute breakneck black/thrash number by the name of 'Fucked by Fire', but immediately following this track the album slows down into a series of mid-paced, dirty, punky guitars and tremolo ... Read review
Advantages: Plenty of catchy riffs, solid production, great fun Disadvantages: Not very original
...of Death 03:56
7. Malevolent Force of Destruction 05:30
8. This Is Goodbye... 04:12
9. My Skin Loves the Steel 03:36
10. Spiritual Warfare 06:46
Total playing time 45:04
Summary: Quality Celtic Frost/Darkthrone worship ... more
Swedish metal band Bewitched's 2006 album 'Spiritual Warfare' starts off with an excellent three and a half-minute breakneck black/thrash number by the name of 'Fucked by Fire', but immediately following this track the album slows down into a series of mid-paced, dirty, punky guitars and tremolo riffs that are hugely reminiscient of Darkthrone's recent efforts, merging this with the murky, downtuned, chugging sound of 'To Mega Therion' era Celtic Frost, even borrowing CF singer Tom G Warrior's trademark 'UGH!'s when the songs demand it.
As with modern Darkthrone, the music is for the main part a mixture of mid-paced heavy metal and sloppy and groove-heavy old school punk, accompanied here and there with the odd melodic rock guitar solo and a combination of hollered punkish vocals and rough black metal screams. There are some fast-paced nods to South American black-thrash here too, as well as melodic and furious Melechesh-like parts with fast-middle eastern sounding scales (eg on tracks 'Black Burning Hatred' and 'My Skin Loves the Steel of Death'), but for the most part the album is an exercise in raw and loosely-played Darkthrone/Celtic Frost worship all the way.
'Spiritual Warfare' is hardly anything new then, but it does what it does very well, with a suitably coarse production, solid song writing and no shortage of catchy chugging riffs and simplistic-but-stirring melodic solos. The dumb-but-endearing lyrics deal with the usual subject matter of death and destruction, whilst the vocals fit in well with the guitars in terms of both timing and execution. Great fun then, so long as you don't go expecting anything very original!
Tracklisting-
1. Fucked by Fire 03:35 2. Gracefallen 05:01 3. Let Darkness Come 03:58 4. Heisinme 05:24 5. Black Burning Hatred 03:02 6. Glorious Are the Ways of Death 03:56 7. Malevolent Force of Destruction 05:30 8. This Is Goodbye... 04:12 9. My Skin Loves the Steel 03:36 10. Spiritual Warfare 06:46
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