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GALLOWER
Eastern Witchcraft EP

Dying Victims Productions (2022)
Rating: 8.5/10

Eastern Witchcraft is the new EP from Polish band Gallower, a trio which formed out of Tychy in 2015. I know about these guys from their 2020 debut full-length album Behold The Realm Of Darkness which was a solid enough offering if you like blasphemous hell-metal full of bloodthirsty, primitive thrashings.

This latest outing, unsurprisingly, follows a similar path, beginning with the blitzkrieg that is the title track, a blackened heap of speed metal nodding towards the likes of Venom, Bathory, Bulldozer, old Sodom, old Destruction, and old Slayer. ‘Eastern Witchcrast’ provides a scorching, infernal nastiness featuring the sneering vocal rasps of Tzar who brings the oily bass too, while his two band mates – guitarist Nocturnitier and drummer Speedfire – hammer relentlessly like caged demons venting anger upon their instruments of darkness.

Blink and you’ll miss this 16-minute EP because the five tracks zip by in a blur of mass black destruction. However, within the rust-spattered mists of tumult there’s a nostalgia to grasp onto as the threesome just get their heads down and rage through the despicable ‘Claws And Fangs’ with its thrashy tenacity, while a distorted bass leads us into the murky, spiteful cacophony of ‘Susanoo’s Deceit’, which is an utterly ferocious oil-pit stirred manically by a crazed witch.

The tracks here are catchy within its chaos, and most certainly more clever than many would give it credit for even though you’ve heard such violence countless times before. The slower breakdowns the band offers are truly menacing, the solos – particularly on ‘Enchanted Woods’ – are wretched in their quest, and I’m often reminded of when I purchased Slayer’s Show No Mercy, mesmerised by the crude, primitive designs in worship of a cheesy Satan. Be thankful then for the closing ‘Forest Sleeps While Stars Die’, a mere subtle instrumental to see us off into the night knowing full well those demons shall rise again.

Gallower is a nasty piece of work that you must pledge your loyalty to or forever remain raked by its vicious thrashing talons.

Neil Arnold

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