There are records that nod to the glory days of metal, and then there are records like Spell Shock that kick the doors in, spit fire across the room, and tear off at full throttle with no intention of slowing down. Bewitcher has always lived in that space where blackened speed metal, punk venom, and old-school heavy metal bravado collide, but Spell Shock, released in 2024 - their second album for Century Media - feels especially possessed. It doesn’t just play like an homage to the gods of filth and fury — it feels like a live wire dragged through gasoline and flames, flames, flames.
Hailing from Portland, Oregon, Bewitcher has built their reputation on a gloriously unholy mix of savage riffing, venomous attitude, and a devotion to the kind of speed metal chaos worshipped by Motörhead, Venom, and early Bathory. Since their self-titled debut, they’ve sharpened that blade without sanding off any of the rust. Spell Shock sounds like the band leaning harder into everything that makes them dangerous — dirtier hooks, nastier tempos, bigger swagger, hotter flames.
From the first strike, the album comes out swinging with chains rattling. Drums hammer like artillery. Riffs slash and burn. The guitars don’t simply gallop, they riot. There’s grease under the fingernails of these songs, smoke rolling off every lead, every chorus built to be screamed with fists in the air and beer on the floor. This is chrome-smoked, Motörhead-approved destruction. You can practically smell hot amps and scorched leather.
Bewitcher’s fire comes from the chemistry of its lean, lethal trio: founding riff-witch Mateo Von Bewitcher and bassist A. Magus have been conjuring this blackened speed metal havoc since the beginning, while drummer Aris Hunter Wales, behind the kit since 2019, hammers Spell Shock forward with pure runaway combustion. It’s not just a band setup, it’s an engine — pistons firing, exhaust spitting sparks, flames licking from every riff.
And what makes Spell Shock rip harder than a simple speed metal throwback is the way Bewitcher balances feral momentum with real songwriting muscle. The hooks land. The riffs stick. Even at breakneck velocity there’s a headbanger’s logic to the madness. Songs lunge forward with the reckless energy of a runaway bike, but every turn hits. Every solo feels thrown like a knife. Every chorus dares you not to shout along.
And that energy — that’s the thing. This record puts you in the pit. Not metaphorically. You’re there. Bodies colliding. Hair whipping. Boots pounding beer-stained floors. The room is too hot. Someone just stage-dived off a monitor. The band hits another acceleration and suddenly the circle pit opens like a vortex. Spell Shock captures that physical electricity, that glorious moment where speed metal stops being something you listen to and becomes something happening to you.
There’s a punk snarl underneath all the molten riff worship too, keeping things mean and lean. Bewitcher never overcomplicates the attack. They understand that primal violence can be elegant when delivered right. So the record burns fast, loud, and with purpose. No bloat. No filler. Just sharpened steel and sulfur.
And yet amid all the scorched-earth aggression, there’s a triumphant streak running through it. That’s where the classic metal blood runs hottest. Beneath the satanic swagger and blackened grime is something almost heroic — the same outlaw spirit that made the genre immortal in the first place. Fast riffs. Raised horns. Total abandon.
If some bands treat old-school metal as museum worship, Bewitcher treats it like a weapon. Spell Shock isn’t nostalgia. It’s combustion. It’s denim and bullets, midnight rituals and blown speakers, exhaust fumes mixing with brimstone. It roars. It bites. It leaves tire marks.
By the end, you feel singed.
And grinning.
Grab your copy of Spell Shock here: https://bewitcher.bandcamp.com/album/spell-shock-24-bit-hd-audio
