Black Witchery – Upheaval Of Satanic Might
This is Black Witchery’s second full-length album overall, and their first for France’s Osmose productions. In this particular case, the term “full-length” is being used a bit loosely though since this European version of “upheaval of satanic might” clocks in at a mere twenty-six minutes, with around two minutes of that time being dedicated to dark/evil sounding intros to a couple of tracks. I noticed that the US version of the album is slightly longer courtesy of an unlisted cover version of Blasphemy’s cult track “ritual”. Perhaps Osmose saved this track for a vinyl only bonus, but I am not certain. What I am certain of, however, is that the sound on the bonus track urinates on the sound that was achieved on the rest of the album. This is rather unfortunate and greatly disappointing. I cannot understand why Black Witchery would purposely want to sound so terrible. Their previous full-length was raw as fuck for sure, but it still sounded far superior to this. In my opinion the sound found on “upheaval of satanic might” almost completely ruins what would otherwise be an album that I would immensely enjoy. They have the demo-level Beherit / “fallen angel of doom” era Blasphemy sounds down, sped up a bit to modernize it of course. I love that type of material, but this is just a case of above average blackened-war metal suffering from below average production. On a final note, Chris Moyen provided the cover art, so you know it is a pleasing eye-catcher to the more darkened souls out there. – Lance Rogers
OSMOSE
Worm Gear 