Review by Felix on April 28, 2026.

Bewitched's "Rise of the Antichrist" was the successor of the very traditional heavy / power metal output called "At the Gates of Hell". This had been no bad album; nonetheless, I was glad to hear that they had modified their style. "Rise of the Antichrist" presents a combination of NWOBHM riffing, smooth guitar lines, thrash elements, and ominous choruses. Additionally, the four pale creatures of the album's back cover have not forgotten to generate a black aura, although some old-school solos, for example, that of the title track, try to provide a counterpoint. Finally, each and every track offers an extremely smooth flow. Only the closer marks an exception, because it is not a song in the narrow sense of the word. The sound collage, probably influenced by some similar pieces of King Diamond, wants to create a horrifying atmosphere, but it just lengthens the playtime of the comparatively short album, which clocks in at 33 minutes.

The quality differences are rather small during the first eight tracks. The homogeneous material emanates a rancid stench, but I have the feeling that this evaporation is part of the crude humour of the guys. To avoid misunderstandings, the ironic twinkle in the eye is not the dominant feature of the album, but it plays a certain role and peps up the straight pieces. Bewitched have fun combining their different influences, and they do it mostly in a clever manner. Exceptions confirm the rule, for example, the relatively mellow guitar line during the chorus of "The Ripper's Return", which is actually a good song. But I prefer the more powerful alternative of Bewitched's approach. Songs like "Bewitched by Evil" shine with a more aggressive guitar work and come straight to the point. The short melody, which shows up during the chorus, does no harm and can be neglected. The mangy opener is another example of the band's ability to create blackened thrash metal. Without being interested in complexity, the formation offers malignant leads, dynamic tempo changes, and rasping lead vocals. Finally, the absolutely convincing chorus possesses the right amount of catchiness. But, as mentioned before, no song slips through the cracks. Bewitched presents 30 minutes of scabby yet entertaining art.

The production is in the usual spectrum, and the word "adequate" describes it sufficiently. Well, the sound effect at the beginning of the second track sucks. The explosion sounds ridiculous. But this minor flaw does not damage the sound as a whole. I appreciate the fairly sharp guitar sound and the vigorous drums. They equip simple yet gripping songs like the vile "Victims of the Cult" with the necessary degree of harshness and reinforce their impact. No doubt, Bewitched has penned a more than solid work, although the album does not mark a milestone. I do not know whether the guys of Exodus like this kind of music, but they deliver the suitable description: good, friendly (fairly) violent fun.

Rating: 7.4 out of 10

Review by Vladimir on September 29, 2023.

On a dark and stormy night, upon a thorned castle, stands an evil and malicious red figure. His nature cruel and terrible, yet his magic black and vicious. This figure that only tales spoke of is none other than the Horned Lord Of The Thorned Castle, who feasts upon those whomsoever dare to approach him or the battlements of his castle. This small intro here is exactly what I’ll be covering in this review, and the subject is the Finnish melodic black metal band Moonlight Sorcery. Last year, the band introduced themselves to the world with two EP’s, Piercing Through The Frozen Eternity and Nightwind: The Conqueror From The Stars, but this year, the band has prepared a work like no other, the one that you will hardly find in this day and age. For this delightful opportunity, I’ll be reviewing their debut album Horned Lord Of The Thorned Castle, set to be released September 29th via Avantgarde Music. 

On this album, Moonlight Sorcery provides a melodic black metal output that is quite complex and progressive in terms of overall songwriting. The musical formula is consisted of downpicking guitar riffs, frequent neoclassical guitar solos, symphonic keyboards, double-bass drumming and cold harsh vocals, all of which certainly go beyond the limits of traditional melodic black metal. From start to finish, it’s like a repeated magic that does not vanish at a certain point and the stylistic consistency of their songwriting certainly manages to hold up from one song to another. Probably one of the most attractive songs of the bunch would have to be the fourth track 'Yönsilmä', which builds up the atmosphere with a clean guitar intro before riding into action. Something that clearly dominates on every song is the guitar solos, which as I said before, they are very neoclassical and frequent throughout this album, yet in so many ways it is perfectly blended to really add a whole new layer to the keyboards, and not make it feel like a gigantic distraction or an extremely big boredom. The soloing in particular is quite similar to that which you would hear in various Children Of Bodom songs, but they are also bordering with power metal in so many ways. The only time when the soloing takes the game completely is the sixth instrumental track 'The Moonlit Dance Of The Twisted Jester’s Blood-soaked Rituals', where it clearly goes for that Yngwie Malmsteen approach from start to finish. Whatever magic Moonlight Sorcery cemented on this album, it is certainly not something that you get to hear very often in the world of black metal, especially since there haven’t been many recent bands that come out with something like this. You can clearly tell that these guys are not just fans of black metal or extreme metal in general, they also share a big love for neoclassical metal, power metal and symphonic metal of all things. Another thing I’d like to talk about this album is the cover art done by Linda Piekäinen. The cover art is stylistically and conceptually quite simplistic, but most importantly, it’s done with some clear sense of deviation and it’s very different from the kind of art that you would often see on black metal albums. As for the sound production of this album, the band went all the way to push the high-quality production to the maximum, while keeping both the instrumental and vocal work well balanced. 

I must say that this caught me by surprise because I have got used to black metal so much lately that everything has become so predictable, but this one certainly managed to exceed my initial expectations. Moonlight Sorcery created an album that is equally incredible and unique, especially for the standards of modern black metal where you would often see bands following a certain trend or a particular sound that is popular at the moment. I am not sure how will other black metal fans react to Horned Lord Of The Thorned Castle, but I can certainly say that this can be loved and appreciated by fans of melodic and symphonic black metal who can look past the genre’s limits and immerse themselves in the magic that this album has to offer. 

Rating: 8.9 out of 10