Warthur Hellwitch's extremely terse debut album (it's only 25 minutes long) has them issuing a torrent of extreme technical thrash, largely occupying the most extreme end of the thrash metal spectrum where it starts to bleed into death metal.

It may seem like splitting hairs to talk about them playing a blend of death metal and technical thrash as opposed to a mix of thrash metal and technical death, but it's arguably accurate: the technical aspects of Hellwitch's sound tend to be more in line with the sort of technical experiments arising from thrash metal (such as the work of Annihilator or Watchtower) than death metal (such as latter-day Death, Cynic, or Atheist). Overall, it's pretty decent, though it feels like a band who'd produced as many demos as Hellwitch had really ought to have more ideas to bring to the table for their debut album than are on display here.

aglasshouse Although this album is technically considered to be "thrash metal", it's no big mystery where Hellwitch put their allegiance with, genre-wise. Atheist, Death, and Morbid Angel are just a few of the bands the band pride themselves on sharing the stage with. The influence of these particular bands are evident especially on the band's 1990 debut, arriving in the wake of other such debut releases like Piece of Time and Altars of Madness arriving but a year prior.

However although Hellwitch are clearly inspired by the late-80's technical death movement, they still retain the fan-tribute aura more than I've seen many other bands do. The music is amateurish, almost demo-like, making Syzygial Miscreancy really hard to differentiate from the six years-worth of demos leading up to it, production-wise. This doesn't necessarily detract from the quality, rather it actually sort of renders it it's own charm as a relatively shoestring-budget release. Of course though a not very technically diverse musical landscape can, more often than not, make an album sound rather flat and make tracks sound almost the same, which granted does happen a few times on this particular record. However a few factors make Hellwitch not actually fall on their face.

1. The musicianship. I know we've already rattled on about Hellwitch's influences, but it must be restated as it's extremely important to how they carry themselves. If they are to truly live up to the wrecking-balls that influenced them, they better be able to play like them. And they do. In particular the channeling of Atheist is made clear with the face-melting eclecticism of all three members, especially rapid tour de force on the kit with Joe Schnessel. The almost Voivod-ian guitar solos and the unexpected tonal shifts and guitar hooks all lend a very professional atmosphere even amidst all of the low-fi fuzz.

2. The overall structure of Syzygial Miscreancy is very laudable, with the aforementioned tonal shifts and surprise melodic riffs keep each track very interesting. The album has a short runtime of only 25 minutes, minuscule in terms of most albums of their caliber, yet this short time also makes it so the album doesn't get stale in an instant and doesn't contain filler. It is something I wish more bands would pay attention to- a shorter album could spell great things for how well it ages.

But Hellwitch does make a few mistakes here and there. For instance the random vocal filters Patrick Ranieri uses on some tracks just sound absolutely ridiculous and out of place, and really only serve to get a laugh out of me personally when they're there. Interestingly enough I find that Patrick Ranieri's vocals are the biggest problem with this album, and it could honestly be due to the production. Usually on other albums audio engineers are able to blend the musicians quite well so that, even when one might mess up, it can sometimes go unnoticed, shrouded amongst the music. Amateurish production is more dangerous in this sense because it is sometimes unable to cut the fat. Ranieri's vocal screams, especially on 'Nosferatu' can are extremely strange and silly because often times he sounds more like he's hyperventilating and not screaming. This happens a few times throughout but overall it isn't that huge of an issue as it doesn't seek to degrade any of the instruments, but when these vocal hiccups are there they are still quite distracting.

In all though this particular album is still a winner. Short, sweet, and charming in it's occasionally maladroit delivery, Hellwitch's debut is something definitely to check out.

UMUR "Syzygial Miscreancy" is the debut full-length studio album by US, Florida based death/thrash metal act Hellwitch. The album was recorded at Morrisound Studios in March 1990 and released through Wild Rags Records in December 1990. While "Syzygial Miscreancy" is a debut album, Hellwitch was already formed in 1984 and had been a vital part of the 80s extreme metal underground in Florida, releasing a couple of influential demos. Most material on "Syzygial Miscreancy" are re-recorded versions of tracks from those demos.

The music on the album is technical death/thrash metal, and while I´ll try and avoid mentioning this all the way through the review, "Syzygial Miscreancy" has a lot in common with "Piece of Time (1989)" by Atheist. The sound production is similar (guitar tone, drum sound, voice production), the technical level of playing and the vocals by Patrick Ranieri also bear a resemblence to the vocals of Kelly Shaefer. They are raw, aggressive, occasionally higher pitched and screaming, and most import of all, delivered with a fierce attitude. Hellwitch occasionally play blast beat sections though, which is not something Atheist are known to do.

"Syzygial Miscreancy" is overall a very aggressive, intense, and fast played affair that doesn´t drown in technical playing or odd progressive ideas. The technical playing is clearly a means to an end and Hellwitch focus are on raw aggression rather than flashy playing. When that is said, there are still some pretty impressive technical playing on the album.

The album features 7 tracks distributed over a 25:32 minutes long playing time, and that´s arguably a very short playing time for a full length album. The short instrumental "The Ascent" opens the album, so there are actually only 6 "regular" length tracks on the album. Wild Rags Records is a pretty underground type label though and "Syzygial Miscreancy" was also produced by the band themselves, so there might have been a money issue involved here, since the band didn´t put more material on the album. They had existed since 1984 so I assume that they had a lot more material they could have recorded and put on the album. I´ll take quality over quantity any day though and thankfully all material on the album are of high quality.

So while "Syzygial Miscreancy" isn´t an album that´s perfect in any way...or you could say it´s a bit rough around the edges/unpolished, the high energy level and intense delivery of the music elevates the tracks to great heights. The tracks are well written, and the sound production suits the raw music well, but it´s primarily an album that is carried by the fierce intensity of the performances. A 4 star (80%) rating is fully deserved.

siLLy puPPy At the time when death metal was distinguishing itself from thrash, there were a few bands that seemed like the perfect intermediate between the two. HELLWITCH was yet another thrash band from Florida that was clearly in the transition zone from thrash to death. They were also one of the bands that were clearly interesting in the technical side of the musical equation with lots of interesting progressive touches gracing their first and only full release album for another 19 years - SYZYGIAL MISCREANCY. After a brief little acoustic intro this band means business with some of the most energetic and pummeling thrash riffing and drum abuse that existed during the day. The intellectual song titles reflect a desire to add a complexity to the music that was fairly rare in the 1990 time period when glam metal was still ruling the roost and other extreme bands were not quite as sophisticated.

This frenetic head banging delight sounds most like the “Piece Of Time” album by Atheist which is not surprising being close neighbors in Southern Florida. Atheist surely must have been a major influence in the relentless pace, deathened thrash vocals and progressive additions that make this album a real gem in the long lost under appreciated albums that i never knew about until recently. The songs are all strong beginning with “Nosferatu” and continue their unforgiving relentlessness until the very end. The vocals range from traditional thrash but merge on death metal growls with occasional bizarre effects such as the Demilich sounding weirdness on “Sentient Transmography.”

Although it sounds like HELLWITCH was on the same path as Atheist, it is unfortunate for whatever reason they were not successful in evolving to the next level and only released this one album until 2009 when their second full release “Omnipotent Convocation” was released, however they did release quite a few demos before this and a few EPs after. Although not quite as brilliant as Atheist’s debut album which is the sound most like this one, the diverse elements and original aspects along with the relentless head banging bliss that this gives me guarantees a solid four stars.