Since checking out the first three albums in their discography, I’d been eagerly, eagerly waiting for a chance to see Portland “black magick” speedsters Bewitcher on stage, and on Saturday night, it finally arrived, in all its full-throated, riff-coated glory, and not without some formidable support too.
UK thrashers Fracture Point, who I last saw supporting Solitary back in 2023, kickstarted the evening’s revelries with a short, sharp, solid set, showcasing notables such as anti-aspersion anthem ‘Cast the First’ stone yet leaving their self-titled theme tune off the list—for shame! Still, they were generous enough to gift me a free EP at the night’s end, so I can’t complain too much.
After their storming Incineration set last year, I’d been looking forward to seeing Derby’s finest blackened speed demons Devastator tearing shit up here once again, and, indeed, once again, they set the same venue ablaze, scorching the stage with such tracks as ‘Black Witchery’, ‘Worship the Goat’, ‘Spiritual Warfare’, and their first album’s sterling title track, ‘Baptised in Blasphemy’. I especially appreciated how they bookended their set with a pair of wiccan-themed numbers, opening with ‘Walpurgisnacht’ and closing with a neat cover of Venom’s ‘Witching Hour’. Between-song antics were kept to a minimum this time, though frontman Thomas Collins made a point of brandishing his huge fuck-off (not a euphemism) at the start and end of the set. Vocally and instrumenally, he and the rest of the band were unrelentlingly on point with the Black Heart’s sound desk doing full justice to their efforts. In short, their best set yet, outdoing even that for last year’s Incineration Fest. Next time they return to the Big Smoke, let it be as a headline act.
Bewitcher matched the standard set by the preceding act, cribbing a rather well curated selection of choice tracks from their four-album discography. Highlights for me included the hard-driving ‘Too Fast for the Flame’, second-album title track ‘Under the Witching Cross’, newer number ‘Out Against the Law’, the succubic ‘Sin Is in Her Blood’, and the one I’d especially looked forward to hearing, ‘Rome Is on Fire’ (with its memorable “AVE, AVE, CALIGULA/AVE, AVE, NERO!” closing refrain—🎵IRON FIST, 666! 🔥🎵) Between the two of them, frontman Unholy Weaver of Shadows & Incantation, AKA Matt Litton, and bassist Infernal Magus of Nocturnal Alchemy, AKA Andy Mercil, did a fine job of inciting, and appreciating, the throng of the audience between songs. With sticksman Aris Wales, they did a fucking great job of inciting such with the material itself, bringing the studio frenzy to the stage without an issue. A first-class set and one I hope I won’t have to wait six years to hear the like of again.
It was also great to finally have a chat with fellow thrash-appreciator Chris Parker and to say hi to fellow black metal—enjoyer Anne Cremin, both of whom I’d been keeping up with on social media. A nice added bonus to a sterling show.
~MRDA~
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