Hellwitch: Syzygial Miscreancy (1990)

I have covered Hellwitch a couple of times in the last year, starting with their 2009 album Omnipotent Convocation and then going back to a couple of their early demos.  But covering Hellwitch seems incomplete unless there is eventually some discussion about the album that has made Hellwitch a cult favorite.  I am talking about this album, Syzygial Miscreancy, and no, I have no idea what that means.

This album is crazy.  It is an explosive and wild collection of riffs and solos that go in all directions at once.  The songs are not really cohesive units, rather they are a barely coherent combination of sections thrown together.  And yet, the album is fucking awesome.  Part of the reason for that is the obvious talent level of the musicians involved.  The riffs are amazing, it does not really matter that they barely fit together.  This is absolutely an album for fans of technical guitar playing. 

I will give Hellwitch credit where I complain about a lot of other technical bands.  Even though there is so much variety, the music never sounds overly clinical or soulless.  The songs still sound organic, even if they have completely run amok. 

I have discussed many times about how thrash was maturing in the early 1990's and a number of bands were becoming highly technical and instrumentally proficient.  This is yet another such example.  Hellwitch skirted the line between thrash and death metal, but they retained a stunning ability to write technically impressive music.  This album is terrific and a well-deserved cult classic.