Arist: Witchcraft
Country: Finland
Label: Wolfkult Religion
Format: Demo tape
Year: 2025
‘Shaitan’ is one of two rehearsal tapes of the Finnish maniacs of Witchcraft that were recently re-released by Wolfkult Religion. With both rehearsals originally appearing in 2024, this was the first to be released and contains six songs.
While the other rehearsal, ‘Belphegor’, features a few new tracks, ‘Shaitan’ presents mostly songs that previously found its way to demos and rehearsals. ‘Mouth of Hell’ and ‘Grave Immolation’ were both released in 2014 on the ‘Dark Offertory’ demo, while ‘Hades Sorceries’ was found initially on the ‘Walpurgisatanacht’ rehearsal in 2016 and later on the 2017 ‘Diablerie’ demo. ‘Shaitan’ is essentially a crude recording from the rehearsal studio, and thus the sound is a bit more unpolished and raw. But for that typical primitive Finnish Black Metal sound inspired by Beherit, Archgoat and Blasphemy it works perfectly. A raw production quality is not exactly something that hurts this style, and you can even argue it brings out even more of that untamed violent spirit that is contained in the Black and Death Metal amalgam that the band has perfected over the years. If primitive, raw and catchy is what your heart desires, Witchcraft delivers just that.
In addition to the three aforementioned tracks and an intro, ‘Shaitan’ also pays tribute with two cover tracks. It needs no explanation that a cover of the Blasphemy song ‘Demoniac’ is a more than fitting addition to any Witchcraft release. And the same can be said for the cover of the Blasphemous Evil track ‘Nuclear Darkness’. These Finns had a shortlived career at the end of the 90’s and into the early 00’s, but managed some notable releases and of course was one of the vessels of Grav Werwolf. Musically, it’s not hard to grasp that Witchcraft must have enjoyed the works of their countrymen, as the crude Black/Death Metal is actually quite in line with the other material on ‘Shaitan’, although the typical Witchcraft song is probably a tad more primitive in nature.
With such a regressive sound that harkens back to the time where Finland was taking it first steps into the realm of Black Metal, a rehearsal recording like ‘Shaitan’ is a precious journey in time. Very few bands take you back to that wild sound of early 90’s Beherit and Blasphemy as Witchcraft does, and this rehearsal is just another great example of that.
