You've been into thrash metal for a while? Then you surely know Witchburner from Fulda, Germany. They've been active in the German underground scene since 1992 and they never surrendered. Witchburner kept the spirit alive when everyone else was going astray, and they didn’t give a damn about trends that kept coming and going or about the problems that naturally occur when a band has to struggle with constant changes in the line-up.
Now, after twenty years of relentless thrashing, and after having released six albums and nine demos, splits and EPs, Witchburner are about to unleash yet another pure old school thrash attack.
„Bloodthirsty Eyes“ is their first full-length on High Roller Records. “It was really easy to come to terms with Steffen about releasing our record on his label – some of us have known him for a long time, so we just asked him, he liked what he heard and said yes – simple as that.” The new album combines the band's original, long-developed trademarks with the qualities of the two new members who joined Witchburner in 2011: New vocalist Pino’s raspy voice is full of brutal, rough power that fits perfectly with the totally classic but still very inspired thrash riffing, which is provided by long-time member Simon Seegel and the new man on lead guitar, Michael “Mächel” Frank. “Yeah, that’s true. Pino’s voice differs a lot from that of Andy R. His voice did not sound like this from the start, though, it took him a while to develop his style, but now we think it fits very well.” Both of the two new members added a fair share of fresh blood and ideas: While Pino wrote all the lyrics for “Bloodthirsty Eyes”, Mächel’s creative and precise solos add the last touch of technical refinement that makes a thrash song a real thrash song. Thus, the five-piece band from Fulda is very happy with the outcome of their endeavours:
“'Bloodthirsty Eyes' contains some of the most aggressive Witchburner songs ever!”
Many reactions to their album “Blood of Witches“ were like: Witchburner really sound like old school thrash but they finally found their own style. Did the band actively work on further defining their own trademarks? Vocalist Pino isn’t very concerned about this: ”We just play thrash metal, we don’t really think about defining our own style. The Witchburner sound simply developed over the years. Seegel has been writing riffs for Witchburner for 20 years now, and Andy S. and Felix have been part of the band for more than ten years now.”
Once again, after “Final Detonation”, “Blood of Witches” and “Demons”, Polish artist Jowita Kaminska-Peruzzi, who already worked for bands like Exodus and Manilla Road, was responsible for the cover artwork.
“We really like her style and her insane artworks so it was clear for all of us that we would ask her to do the cover artwork for 'Bloodthirsty Eyes'”
Even though they have been around for quite a while, Witchburner are forever deeply rooted in the underground, where they still feel very much at home: “We will stay a part of the underground forever.” The end of the thrash revival is something Witchburner greet wholeheartedly: “Thankfully the hype seems to be over now and most of those 'thrashers' and bands have disappeared again. But still, there are some newer bands that just recently got attention and have become a great asset to the metal underground.”
But anyhow, Witchburner have never cared much about what is “in” or “out”. And thus “Bloodthirsty Eyes” is not about trends. It’s for those, who – like the band itself – “just live the cult”!