When ACID WITCH's "Witchtanic Hellucinations" came out in 2008 on Razorback Records, metal fans were floored by the creative mash of death metal, doom, horror soundtrack, and NWOBHM. The diabolical duo crafted a signature sound that reeks of old, rotten treats on Halloween night, therefore appropriately dubbing this style of music "HALLOWEEN METAL"! This album is a thick, heavy cauldron of psychedelic surprises and drug-induced HORROR! To meet the demand for this modern classic, Hells Headbangers stepped in to do the honors - maybe your Halloween won't turn out to be the "happy" one you were expecting...hahahaha!!!
*Classic...highly entertaining and haunting music'' Popdose.com
*I admit, I began listening with a cynical raised eyebrow, but after repeated listens, this album has grown on me like a damp, glistening fungus. As well as the crazy song titles and deliberately dated-sounding effects, Acid Witch really do have some very good songwriting skills. There are some fantastic atmospheric, hypnotic passages, some truly great, extremely weighty guitar riffs, and some highly explosive guitar solos (which remind me a lot of old NWOBHM). The whole album has a wonderfully primitive, sludgy and grim vibe to it, and the heavy-as-lead production sets it off perfectly...For a debut album, it really does stand out as an underground doom metal gem in my opinion, and I am definitely going to search for more material from this bunch of lunatics. I can only urge doom fans to meet under a full moon, and take a long draught from this witches cauldron'' AveNoctum.com [8/10 rating]
*In the wake of the band recently garnering increased recognition, first released on Razorback Records in 2008, Hells Headbangers have taken it upon their ungodly selves to re-release Witchtanic Hellucinations, a cult classic, to satisfy the demand. The doom riffs and the simplistically dense drumming chug along like a lead-booted Frankenstein's monster wading in mud; the lead work and the organ summons up all kinds of eerie atmospheres; and the vocals, in their reverberated deathly grind, slam the final nail in the coffin. And to top off the abundance of rancid riffs and psychedelic organ lines woven into its matted webs ' as if you couldn't tell from the track titles ' it's laced with an unhealthy dose of tongue-in-cheek humor. Halloween's approaching (at the time of writing, at least) and you need a soundtrack that'll scare the shit out of the kids knocking your door threatening all kinds of mischief unless you fill 'em up on sugar. This is it'' TheMidlandsRocks.com [8/10 rating]
*A stoner doom classic'' MetalMusicArchives.com
*It did not take me long to find out why this album is highly sought after by such quality labels. Acid Witch play a very cool and unique brand of death doom metal. The base riffs are slow-motion bulldozers ripping up the ground like it is weak flesh from bone, so heavy. Added to that are these crazy spaced-out guitar leads all backed with out-of-this-world sound effects. The vocals are really deep, slow but intelligible growls that give me a classic feel; you do not hear that many newer bands doing cool vocals like this anymore. This album sort of makes me think if you took the first MY DYING BRIDE album, sent those band members out to space and got them hopped up on LSD...an amazing death-doom album...For me, it actually blows away their follow-up sophomore album'' CanadianAssault.com
*For those that haven't had the pleasure of having your eardrums desecrated courtesy of Acid Witch, this is a great opportunity to see what the band is all about. Acid Witch's music is laden with horror, doom, death, and ritualistic blasphemies (everything a growing boy needs, right?)...Creating a death/doom sound that is as entrancing as it is vile marks one of the greatest successes of Witchtanic Hallucinations. The album's ability to harness the best of death, doom, horror, and even classic metal is an accomplishment'' Axestogrind.com
*For those not in the loop (and for that, I am truly sorry!), Acid Witch are just one of those 'different' bands that has to be heard to be truly appreciated. Thing is, once you do hear them, chances are good you'll never be the same (in a good way!). Imagine a mix/mash-up of BLACK SABBATH, death metal, stoner/psychedelic rock, horror movie soundtracks, and even some NWOBHM moments. Odd on paper, and yet, when it's all said and done, it works. Given the fact that this album has been reviewed already THOUSANDS of times, I won't break it down too much. All I will say is this is different, underground music and, with Halloween right around the corner, the perfect gift for those who love all things heavy, creepy, and crawly!'' Heavy Metal Time Machine webzine
*An enjoyable and distinctive album of unusually up-tempo death/doom with some solid songwriting, and still possessed of a vital but hard-to-define quality that the sequel just didn't have'' Destructive-Music.com
.jpg "ACID WITCH - Witchtanic Hellucinations")
