Joining frontman Mateo Von Bewitcher, bassist A. Magus, and drummer A. Hunter in the studio this time was none other longtime BEWITCHER fan Lars Frederiksen. Most of the world knows Frederiksen as a force in his own right, playing in the likes of Bay Area punk heroes Rancid, The Old Firm Casuals and his own Lars Frederiksen and the Bastards. While to some, it may have been an unlikely pairing with Frederiksen taking the producer’s seat, for everyone in the studio the connection was immediate. Says Frederiksen on “Spell Shock”: “The best record I’ve ever produced.”
From its electric artwork by Italian graphic artist SoloMacello, to songs like “Dystopic Demonolatry” and the haunting “We Die in Dust”, to the epic closer “Ride of the Iron Fox” (“That’s BEWITCHER’s Dokken song!” laughs A. Hunter) “Spell Shock” is BEWITCHER at their most evolved and most devastatingly primal. “We wanted it to be an album experience,” says drummer A. Hunter. “Imagine King Diamond’s Abigail in terms of atmosphere merged with the energy of AC/DC’s High Voltage.”
Recent months have seen the band blast through Europe, Mexico and the US with Portland Black Metal practitioners UADA, and Century Media labelmates Upon Stone for a string of dates that included the legendary Milwaukee Metal Fest. Come September, and coinciding with the release of “Spell Shock”, BEWITCHER will embark on a co-headline North American tour with labelmates SKELETAL REMAINS, featuring a rotating package of some of the underground’s most extreme bands: Phobophilic, Torture Rack, Witch Vomit, and Morgul Blade!
FRAGMENTING NORTH AMERICA:
9/20 Los Angeles, CA – Moroccan Lounge
9/21 San Diego, CA – Brick By Brick
9/22 Mesa, AZ – Nile Underground
9/24 San Antonio, TX – The Rock Box
9/25 Dallas, TX – RBC
9/26 Houston, TX – Scout Bar
9/27 New Orleans, LA – Southport Hall
9/28 Orlando, FL – Conduit
9/29 Atlanta, GA – Masquerade (Purgatory)
10/1 Raleigh, NC – Chapel of Bones
10/2 Philadelphia, PA – KFN
10/3 Brooklyn, NY – Market Hotel
10/4 Worcester, MA – Ralphs
10/5 Pittsburgh, PA – Preserving
10/6 Chicago, IL – Cobra Lounge
10/8 Detroit, MI – Sanctuary
10/9 Ottawa, ON – The Dom
10/10 Toronto, ON – Rockpile
10/11 Albany, NY – Empire Underground
10/12 Baltimore, MD – Metro Gallery
10/13 Cincinnati, OH – Madison Live
10/15 Omaha, NE – Reverb Lounge
10/16 Denver, CO – HQ
10/17 Salt Lake City, UT – Aces High Saloon
10/18 Boise, ID – The Shredder
10/19 Seattle, WA – El Corazon
10/20 Portland, OR – Dante’s
And:
11/8-9/24 (SE) Umea – House of Metal Festival
BEWITCHER recently unveiled “Starfire Maelstrom (Lyric Video)” as the first taste of the upcoming album: https://youtu.be/wkZxzYXWYYo
