It’s hard to describe Black Witchery to a newcomer. Imagine the travails you went through when trying to explain Black Metal to a non-metal friend (“So they’re massive KISS fans?” “No!” “They’re like Insane Clown Posse?” “NO!”) and then multiply that by three, and you’ve about got the idea – the American trio have been hacking out their particular brand of over-the-top barbarism under various different names since 1999, and much as I’d love to spend pages telling you of the various miniscule variances between each of their three albums, numerous splits and, incredibly, two DVDs, I can’t, not least because I haven’t experienced them all. I’m told they’re much like this, however, speedy blasts of horrendously noisy and raw Black Metal that’s closer to grindcore in terms of guitar tone and sheer pulverising drum power, not to mention Impurath’s hoarse bellow over the top of it all. There’s not much difference between tracks, although Kingdom Against Kingdom has some especially ferocious riffing, blasting and bellowing – clearly, fans of Black Witchery listen to the band rather than their music.

There are hints of talent, as the band have a great ambient ability – both ‘intro’ pieces are surprisingly effective at unnerving the listener, and interlude Sepulchral Witchcraft replaces the guitars with atmospheric clanging noises, suggesting that there may be a future for the band as a kind of evil Einstürzende Neubauten. No-one listens to Black Witchery for the interludes, however, and it’s fair to say that any random listener exposed to the sheer Satanic fury of, say, Antichrist Order Of Holy Death will be severely rattled. Not that they’ll be rattled for long, as tracks generally last for just a couple of minutes, with several longer pieces for the truly hardcore. Not to labour the point but it must be said again, even as someone who listens to more than the average amount of raw music, I found it hard to remember differences between tracks, vocal effects such as those utilised on Holocaustic Church Devastation popping up rather randomly elsewhere. Ultimately, if you’re the sort of person who enjoys the band’s music, you’re already aware of their name – those new to the style would be better off checking out the likes of Canada’s Revenge. I don’t mean to denigrate Inferno Of Sacred Destruction, as Black Witchery are quite solid at what they do; but they make it damn hard to recommend them.