GALLOWER, a Black Metal band and at the same time, a dark land surrounded with Black Thrash lyrics weaving a story around it. Witches, black death, medieval injustice, your basic pure evil are the main themes on this one. Influences such as KREATOR, MERCYFUL FATE, VENOM, and SLAYER will also help paint the picture with what we have going on here. The band was formed in Silesia, Poland in 2015. This album, "Eastern Witchcraft," was recorded in GALLOWER'S Cave of Ritual, May of 2021 and released in July 2022 by Dying Victims Productions. It includes five tracks and is just sixteen minutes in length, a flash back to the great 1980's.

Starting out with the title track, it has a hint of punk that comes and goes before falling in line with its Thrash roots. The drums are here to make themselves known and the unique guitar work that follows does not disappoint. "Claws and Fangs" take a big bite on this one. It is not as complex as the first, but it quickly gets in to and stays in an enjoyable groove on the first half of the song. It would be a good song for Lemmy to sing and almost sounds like him by the end of it.

Starting the third track, "Susanoo's Deceit," the intentional feedback in the beginning worked for me, it added a little OG spice to the first bite. Don't be fooled. Slowing it down a little for the first time with this one was only temporary. Blasting back off with a solo and a tempo spike, it makes for a nice change of pace and adds a little bit of diversity instead of just balls to the wall, breakneck speed all of the way through five similar sounding songs.

Kicking back down on the double bass, the drum work is again in the forefront in the "Enchanted Woods." Never to be left out, some more amazing guitar work always soon follows. This is no exception. Simple and straight forward, to the point.  I like it. With a complete gear down in the end, we go out with something more like an intro to a horror movie. The Thrash is over, but it is a nice way to slide out and escape the evil that has been sitting on your shoulder throughout this one. All in all, I believe it is worth a rewind.