{"id":105044,"date":"2025-06-18T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-17T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=105044"},"modified":"2025-07-01T15:22:48","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T14:22:48","slug":"album-review-gravewitch-gravewitch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-gravewitch-gravewitch\/","title":{"rendered":"GRAVEWITCH – Gravewitch (2025) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

GRAVEWITCH
\nGravewitch<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nSelf-released (2025)<\/span>
\nRating: 7\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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This trio of Bend, Oregon-based crazies have been hanging round for over a decade so I\u2019m surprised that they\u2019ve not been more active. Maybe it\u2019s all the blood drinking and spellbinding which has distracted them? Either way, this self-titled full-length offering is not the band\u2019s debut. That particular slab was coughed up five years ago under the title The Summoning<\/em>.<\/p>\n

With this new release I wondered if any changes were afoot or would Gravewitch stick to their blackened thrash vomit. But this is still very much the Gravewitch I\u2019ve become familiar with; zipping melodies, snapping vocals and tight percussion all delivered in a similar vein to the likes of Skeletonwitch.<\/p>\n

Although there is a shade of rawness to the sound of Gravewitch, especially in guitarist Chris Fleming\u2019s sniping vocals, the album still boasts a modern sheen. The band does exhibit influences of Aura Noir and a lot of other blackened thrash acts, but they lack the real primitive grit, although that\u2019s something they seem to be aware of.<\/p>\n

I guess I would call this clean blackened thrash, epitomised by the scowling opener \u2018Damnable Evil\u2019, even though it never quite reaches ravenous mode. Instead, the trio conjures up a slick yet slightly restricted sound that\u2019s briskly polished without being barbaric or blinding.<\/p>\n

The songs are well crafted, concise and catchy, where devilish riffs slip melodiously into spikier retorts, yet no flesh is ever punctured. That\u2019s not to say that this album is harmless blackness, as there\u2019s plenty of bite and spite with the savage and sneering \u2018Mistress Of Hate\u2019 and my favourite song \u2018White City Devil\u2019, which is downright sinister. \u2018Woodland Trance\u2019 is another strong track but one which veers more towards a straight up black metal vibe with its Nordic frostiness. Another favourite is \u2018Ritual Reanimation\u2019 with its suspenseful build up and more guttural vocal approach.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a lot to savour here as Gravewitch inserts flecks of death and thrash into their already potent formula. I\u2019ve given this album quite a few spins now and I recommend you do too.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

GRAVEWITCH Gravewitch Self-released (2025) Rating: 7\/10 This trio of Bend, Oregon-based crazies have been hanging round for over a decade so I\u2019m surprised that they\u2019ve not been more active. Maybe it\u2019s all the blood drinking and spellbinding which has distracted them? Either way, this self-titled full-length offering is not the band\u2019s debut. That particular slab […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,5931],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-105044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-gravewitch"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105044"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105044\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":105051,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105044\/revisions\/105051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}