Description
Witches Hammer “Final Storm” LP
Cult Canadian speed metal freaks who formed way back in 1984 still alive, and/or undead, and kicking. “Forty years in the making” blimey, that’s a bit lazy init? “Rather than reinventing themselves, the band has remained faithful to the speed and thrash metal sound that has defined their legacy, delivering nine tracks that seamlessly stand alongside their previous two acclaimed albums”. Connecting the past with the present, alongside a couple of new ‘compositions’, some of these tracks originate from the band’s earliest days, right back to their demo era. Much of the material was painstakingly assembled from decades-old cassettes. While the rather fantastic sleeve art was originally drawn in 1988 for an album that was never released.
My take: a lot of the output on Nuclear War Now is laughably bad. And Witches Hammer, I’m glad to report, are no exception! Ach, I’m joking, of course. This is pretty great. There’s something deeply pleasing about the primeval chaos and satan-on-a-skateboard tendencies of 80’s thrash metal. Back in the day, I can recall a member of Hellbastard sending my schoolmate a mixtape, which, of course, I eagerly dubbed and then played to Death (and Death? Yeah, they loved it too). I didn’t have the tracklisting, but over the years I worked-out it was mix of early Kreator, Possessed, Exodus, Destruction and the like (Voivod being the stand-out, natch) – which is exactly the happy-place where this album takes me: rocking my head while hiding in the art department plugged into a walkman. And what’s more, this sounds a lot better than Hellbastard.
