Split

While Nunslaughter has released a large number of splits before, I believe this is Acid Witch's first, and anything new from Acid Witch was bound to get a listen from me -- they've been awfully quiet since releasing Stoned four years ago and their fans (myself included) have been starving for new songs from them. I'm happy to report that neither band disappoints on this all-too-short split, the cover of which is dolled up to look like a trashy comic book, complete with bend marks all over it showing a "well-thumbed" exterior (and as one might expect, it's issue 666). Let's start with Acid Witch. Evil is their classic sonic material, with a trippy-sounding organ coiling venomously around Slasher Dave's chugging guitar riffs. The anti-religious lyrics are somewhat of a departure from the normal cheesiness one expects from this band, but the random horror-movie samples and shredding solos are delightfully familiar. It's good, but Fiends of Old is where it gets more interesting -- it's substantially faster, more like something off Dave's previous project, Horrific, with blastbeats and higher-pitched, more death-metal-style vocals, though it's still very recognizable as an Acid Witch track. Perhaps an indication of a new direction in the next album? Nunslaughter is pretty impressive as well on both of their tracks. A Sordid Past is fast and breathless, like the tracks I'd heard from them before, with Don of the Dead almost whispering the growled lyrics to a surprisingly uncontroversial set of lyrics, considering the nature of their normal songs. Spooky Tails is better, though, with a slower attack than they usually do and a horror-movie theme that fits in well with the split. I think Acid Witch's contributions are slightly superior, but this might get laid down to personal preference. Overall, though the songs are all short, this is a long-awaited sample of both bands and worth a listen or two.