Artist: Black Witchcraft
Country: Poland
Label: Under The Sign Of Garazel Productions
Formats: LP / CD
Year: 2025
With ‘Stare Into The Blackest Depths Of Hell’ this Polish Black Metal duo offers their first full-length album and follow-up to the very solid debut EP ‘Malignus – Interdicti Legendae De Viribus Infernis Diaboli’ from 2023. Both the first EP and this debut album are brought into this world through the esteemed Under The Sign Of Garazel Productions label, a label that has carved its name deeply into the underground (Black) Metal scene with a good amount of quality releases. ‘Stare Into The Blackest Depths Of Hell’ is certainly no exception to the Polish label’s usual output.
When compared to the earlier EP, not a whole lot has changed. The duo, that is also active in Occultum, is still throwing in just about everything that made the Second Wave of Black Metal such an interesting musical movement. The period from, say, 1992 to 1995 is typified by Black Metal in its most beautiful and ugly, the most creative and regressive and the most mind-bending and pig-headedness. All of these qualifications apply to Black Witchcraft. ‘Stare Into The Blackest Depths Of Hell’ is a true mishmash of styles and influences coming from all angles of the Black Metal sound spectrum.
That Black Witchcraft can’t (or won’t) really show colour and doesn’t seem to have any particular musical preference was a little less evident on the first EP. Maybe because of the slightly shorter playing time, the EP clocking well under half an hour and this debut album is almost 45 minutes long, but perhaps it was a conscious decision to expand the palette a bit. However, even with blending a lot of different colours and flavours, I wouldn’t classify Black Witchcraft as an inventive band, as none of the musical ideas are new or even remotely fresh.
That doesn’t mean that Black Witchcraft has nothing to offer that’s exciting enough to spend some of your time with. On the contrary, the slight lack of coherence is more than made up for with solid song writing and the band’s sincerity in what they’re doing. The album opens with some eerie riffs that might remind of some of the earlier Forgotten Woods material, but more than often Black Witchcraft goes into those staccato and sawblade riffs akin to bands like Gorgoroth, Darkthrone and Carpathian Forest. The variety in pace, going from those rocking parts to downright fiery blasting passages, is the only thing that gives the album something that feels closest to ore contemporary Black Metal. Or it should be the rather good/sharp production, that absolutely adds to the overall enjoyability of the music.
‘Stare Into The Blackest Depths Of Hell’ is an album that is definitely worth the shot if you are into the sort of Black Metal that takes you back to the heydays of the Second Wave of the genre. Still, although it might indeed remind you of some of the genre’s classic bands or albums, it is clear that this record is not made in 1995 and doesn’t feel dated at all.
