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ATOMIC WITCH
Crypt Of Sleeping Madness

Redefining Darkness (2022)
Rating: 8/10

That’s a seriously devilish album cover, a kaleidoscopic coven of mysticism thankfully matched by the infectious rattle of ‘Love Curse’, the track which turned me on to this Cleveland, Ohio-based bunch.

Originally forming under the name Bull & Skull in 2012 but changing their moniker four years later, Atomic Witch are a very interesting combo that serves up a nasty death / thrash design although much of the emphasis is on the thrash side of things, especially in the dry vocal snaps of main man Greg Martinis. But what I really like about these guys is their sudden shifts towards a more technical, dehydrated style.

This is metal perfectly suited to All Hallows’ Eve but a style which bends genres as we get hammered with an almost black metal aesthetic with the opening rounds of ‘Psychic Miasma’. However, there’s also a strong nod to technical thrash and flashes of death metal too. I also like the way the guys play with crossover nuances too, but to simply cast this off as thrash would be foolish. ‘Leather Noose’ has a vicious snarl to its vocal, but most emphatic is the crunchy yet belligerent guitar tone which churns like a sinister machine.

Two years ago Atomic Witch released a three-track EP entitled Death, Sex + Satan which featured cover versions of Deicide, Faith No More and W.A.S.P. songs, and although these guys sound nothing like those bands it does show their versatility as a heavy metal band, because one moment you could be swept up in a Watchtower-styled enigmatic rattle and yet the guitar tone could have a Jim Martin (ex-Faith No More) styled thuggery chug to it. And there’s still that snappy thrash aggression as evidenced on ’70,000 Skulls’ and the furious ‘Too Rotten To Die’ which features some clever bass work from Kevin Czarnecki.

‘She Drifts’ has a steady surge to its style, almost bordering on death metal with its plodding menace and slightly more lower end vocal sneers, but Atomic Witch is a hard band to pin down when it comes to categorising their energetic brand of molten metal. ‘Casket Dagger’ has elements of Slayer and more contemporary thrash details. There are hardcore influences too throughout the opus, and yet I also hear a classic, steelier metal exploration only delivered with a more scathing belligerence ala Cryptic Slaughter. I expect great things from this bunch now that they have been let out of the asylum.

Neil Arnold

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