UMUR
"Nosferatu" is the first demo recording by US, Florida based death/thrash metal act Hellwitch. The demo was independently released in 1984. It´s the band´s first output after forming earlier the same year. The demo only feautures one track, and at this point Hellwitch was only a duo of Patrick Ranieri on guitars and Harry Tyler on drums and vocals. Various sources say though that the drums on the demo aren´t really drums. They are just objects (cushions and books) being hit which were in the room where the demo was recorded (probably live on a tape recorder in the middle of the room).
Considering that rather primitive recording technique, the sound quality is surprisingly good. The "drums" are buried beneath the guitar and the vocals, but you can easily make out the blueprint of the "Nosferatu" track which eventually would be re-recorded and included on Hellwitch´s debut full-length studio album "Syzygial Miscreancy" (Wild Rags Records, December 1990). Before that it had however already been re-recorded and included on the January 1986 "Transgressive Sentience" demo. So this was obviously a track the band were very proud of and wanted their audience to hear.
Stylistically this is pretty much Hellwitch as they still sound now almost 40 years down the line. Energetic and aggressive speed/thrash metal delivered with great technical skill. The touch of death metal which Hellwitch music occasionally features would be added later on the band´s career. Upon conclusion "Nosferatu" isn´t a demo you put on for listening pleasure. It´s a historical document showing the early extreme metal roots of the Florida music scene. Other artists active around this time were Executioner (later Xecutioner and even later Obituary), Mantas/Death, Massacre, R.A.V.A.G.E. (later Atheist), and of course Morbid Angel, and while Hellwitch may not often be mentioned among the seminal extreme metal acts from Florida like the other mentioned artists are, they arguably deserve that tag too. A 1.5 star (30%) rating is warranted.