BEWITCHED are a group who have been around for 11 years now and yet when I was given the promo all I could say I about them was that the name rang a bell, it seems to me that they have never really made any ripples in the Metal world and after hearing this, their fifth full length studio album, it became clear why. While they are obviously competent what it boils down to is that these boys are basically an 80’s Thrash Metal cover band who have evolved to writing their own material, they even replicate the dirty production values so rampant in early Thrash groups such as KREATOR and DESTRUCTION, which was a good sound at the time but now it’s beginning to show its age and is developing some cracks around the edges.

I think I have quite nicely summarized my opinions of this album in that first paragraph, so before I finish I will mention that while most of the songs are bland, colorless things the opening track “Fucked By Fire” has some good points and hearing it the first time I had high hopes for the rest of the album. There’s a lesson in there somewhere I’m sure.

So, this is an album I would perhaps recommend only if you had burned through all the Thrash groups from the early 80’s and really wanted more, but if you’re still new to the genre and are just looking for some cool Thrash, please save yourself a world of grief and get your hands on some KREATOR instead.

(Online September 21, 2007)