Wicca

Mystifier was a classic Brazilian black metal band formed in 1989. Like their forefathers Sarcofago, Holocausto and other South American black/deathrashing maniacs they played violent aggressive unkempt music at breakneck speeds. However, they were more clearly aligned with black metal as the genre was developing beyond its thrashing ancestors. They also bore some resemblance to Canadian black/death metal gods Blasphemy, although they were not likely directly influenced by them. In their early demo/EP stage, Mystifier had heaps of juvenile aggression and sloppy musicianship, but displayed thoughtful song writing nevertheless. Their style would develop considerably in the three years after their inception, leading to their monolithic debut, 1992's "Wicca". Their strong focus on occult themes, eerie dark aesthetic and hellish demonic thrashing style were best executed here, although they would go on to release another great album the following year.

The production of Wicca is an improvement on their filthy demo stage material, and a slight step up from their 1990 EP "The Evil Ascension Returns". While it's nowhere near pristine, it allows each instrument to come through with clairty, and at the same time accentuates the raw and filthy elements of their sound. Their sound is bass-heavy, with the rhythm guitar buzzing on the sidelines. This is most apparent in the slower doomier sections, where the bass delivers mean bludgeoning chords, but rather than having heaps of ugly fuzz uses a thick cleaner tone. Along with the somewhat thin guitar, they have an overall more sparse cleanly played sound. However, in the speedy thrashing sections (which make up a good deal of the album) the sound is considerably more chaotic. While still more precise than some of their countrymates, they're not above filthy breakneck thrashing, and actually excel at it (so have yer neck brace ready for the spinal injury that'll surely ensue). They deliver a great deal of blast-driven insanity fueled by a sub end torrent of riffs (which draws the comparison to the mighty Blasphemy). They also lay on some alternate picked high notes over the speedy rhythms, sounding somewhat like an amped up angrier Von. The drums are clean, precise, dull and bassy. At times their precision is almost machine-like, but rest assured it's not overly mechanical and most certainly not an actual drum machine. The double kick has a slightly annoying triggered sound, but thankfully it's used sparingly. The drummer spends most of his time furiously blasting, which lends to the music's constant hypnotic flowing sound. The vocals are mostly growls and rasps, falling somewhere in between the standard harsh delivery of 80s Brazilian death/thrashers and the ritualistic psychotic grumblings of Blasphemy. Unfortunately for some, they frequently throw on a demonic-sounding voice changer, but it's not overbearingly cheesy and in some ways contributes to their strange occult sound. The overall ordered cleanliness (co-existing with violent thrashing) of Mystifier's sound creates an aesthetic of austerity that is very unique and alluring. A few minor disappointments on the album include the goofy almost Cradle of Filth-like intro and some unnecessarily cheesy (and thankfully rarely used) synths. Regardless, this album delivers on all fronts and is not only worth many repeated listens but stands high in the ranks of cult old school black metal.

"Wicca" stands as the crowning achievement of the legendary Mystifier, culminating the sound laid out in their early material into a fluid concise effort. While they would reach similar heights with 1993's "Goetia", their debut stands as their most realized and best executed effort. Unfortunately their quality began to sink rapidly by their third album, but two great albums and some excellent demo/EP material is more than enough to feast your ears upon. Fans of classic black metal such as Sarcafago, Blasphemy and Von (all mentioned above) should surely have some interest in Mystifier. Furthermore, any curious black metal fan should give them a try and perhaps familiarize themselves with the ugly violent style of olde. There are a great deal of pre-second wave classic bands that are frequently overlooked, and Mystifier certainly fits that description. However, there are always maniacs who hunt down such relics, and thankfully labels like Nuclear War Now! (who released an incredible 7LP Mystifier retrospective titled "Baphometic Goat Worship") continue to give homage to true underground classics. Old school black metal freaks rejoice in the glory of Mystifier!

Brazil was principally known for the death/thrash metal bands during the 80s but less if we talk about raw, primitive and occult black metal. That’s exactly the reason why a band like Mystifier was so overlooked and stayed in a sort of perennial limbo. More simply, Mystifier never received the deserved attention and the underground was their place. I’m quite sure that if this band was born in Europe this won’t be happened but we cannot complain about the past, but just try to adjust the things thus to give a late, but still in time, appreciation.

At the beginning of their career, these crazy blacksters played a still embryonic form of death/black metal and the influences came directly from Europe and bands like Venom, Bathory and Hellhammer but also from the old school death metal bands that were so important for Brazil at the middle of the 80s. The first demos were put out and in 1992 Heavy Metal Maniac Records gave them a change and they grabbed it to release the very first album. The band’s style was changed a bit in these years and the occult music was preponderant now, aside the always present black metal with death components.

They were fascinated by occultism and so it wasn’t difficult for them to transport it in music. The beginning is a sort of an intro with arpeggios and scary vocals from hell, while “Osculum Obscenum” develops its burden of total darkness through mi-paced tempos and essential guitars lines, still bounded to bands like the very first Samael and Old Funeral. The fast parts, almost on blast beats are ferocious and the vocals are really disturbing because they are so loud compared to the instruments and they have a twisted tonality. This is truly macabre. The bass is very audible but the vocals almost cover everything.

The production is really low-budget and all the instruments lack of consistency and power. On the other hand, there’s a positive side for this: they sound even more primordial and truly dark. You can imagine them playing in a cave surrounded by bones, some fires and the rest is utter darkness. The tempo changes are quite numerous and the solos are just there to accompany the dark, sulphurous atmospheres with longs notes and no too fast parts. Among the songs we can find some intros like bells and whispered vocals to make the whole matter even darker. The songs run after each other in a maelstrom of incredible darkness.

Everything sounds so primordial and even not so well structured but surely spontaneous. The blast beats after awhile are quite repetitive because the drummer is not that good. He’s just essential and the keyboards parts we can sporadically find are incredibly strange and surely add a heavier tone of occultism. The ones in “Cursed Excruciation” are so cold. Sometimes the vocals seem so perverted when they are on whispers with the black metal shriek tonality. Surely, the band is better at the mid tempo parts and doom ones. “An Elizabethan Devil-Worshiper's Prayer-Book” is the best song here because contains the best melodies and guitars work. The band is more inspired here and the sense of total gloom invades my lungs.

Reaching the end can cause madness or even a sort of trance status. There are very few bands that achieved the goal of transmitting such dark and occult feelings in music and Mystifier are the masters to me. Well, I’m not fond of this genre but I must admit that they are very good at it. This album, anyway, still features some flaws like imprecise parts and fillers and surely it’s not recommended for those who like just speed black, but at the end, Wicca is always able to leave you stunned and with a sense of inner disturb. It’s like taking part to a black mass, a ritual and be able to tell to anyone. You have a mix of fear and incredulity. This is simply shocking.

Adjust your cervical vertebrae, snap back your skull and lower your mandible as Mystifier rattles every other bone in your body from their intense debut. This Brazilian horde possesses your mortal spirit and rightfully sends your sternocleidomastoid, omohyoid and trapezius muscles back and forth, like the backlash of a car crash that just won't stop hitting you. The tones sent off from 'Wicca' are characterized as being very diverse. Mostly causing epilepsy of grand mal, which is of course the most horrid of seizures. Symptoms are typically caused by extremely fast blasting drums, a blazing guitar, a subsonic bass, and rancid vocals that suffer from chronic tonsillitis. Sarcofago, Blasphemy, and Beherit have similarly attacked nervous systems alike.

An instrument by instrument analysis is only fitting to coax a suitable tonal diagnosis. The guitars: These monsters are deeply toned, and can vary from slow portions to muffled double picking. Unfortunately no dual guitars arise in my evaluation. The body's immune system is strengthened by there being a solo about every other song; the solos attack with malice and transcend to total chaos to decently organized and appealing (take note to check what kind of antibiotics this recording is getting). With the guitars guiding you with a single track, the bass guitar gets an 'A' from me for getting its apple per day. It is clean, though simultaneously destructive and very full sounding and audible. The vocals are the loudest disturbance on this album. They are for the most part growled, and can show some ghastly whispering that I've never seen searching volumes of medical related text, if Henry Gray would resurrect from his grave I'm sure he'd even give me the shrug. This is probably due to a kind of voice modifier of some sorts being used, it seems to have measurement to be listenable however. The drums weave their way into the mix as separate and audible, even during his hectic blasts which made my inner ear drum ring just as loud. He appears to be using an electronic drum set due to its more precise sound, and I have to say he would have made a good brain surgeon with his rigid, steady, and essentially unshaky hands. His faster abilities have endless amounts of stamina during temper tantrums. His fills appear to be prevalent but only apply a few different varieties. There is a stage of developing rage that he elevates to by hitting the snare and toms simultaneously to only speed back up and throw more fits. This method is most commonly used by the grandfather's of blasphemous chaos, Sarcofago. The last instrument to report is the keyboards. They seem to be a low key symptom and are used seldomly. When utilized they will heighten a particular riff or short passage. This formula is easily comparable to the work of early Rotting Christ.

After a qualified tonal assessment of Mystifier's 'Wicca,' I've come to two broad conclusions: the cons and the pros.

The cons begin with the blasting getting a little repetitive on a few later tracks on the album, most likely due to the preciseness of the drum sound not having any 'jumpouts'; it just sounds very similar due to continuously blasting. This is diversely utilized well on most of the tracks, just a few portions you have to be in a definite headbanging mode since other parts are more straight forward. And also the vocals seem to slightly take over the mix at times, but on the other hand are justifiably a menace and a threat to anything your senses might of experienced before.

The pros start with the solos, which are actually pretty decent sounding and executed. They aren't all for the sake of being ruthless, some come out as more subtle and begin to show some specific aim to their firing off riffs as if they were some new strain of deadly virus. Also, the keyboards are used appropriately, as this seemed a rare commodity for what I've listened to for Brazilian bands at the time, they might not have wanted to overdo it, yet the following album would utilize it more frequently. Next, the album has a very deep, thick, and evil sounding production; sort of like Incantation's earliest album. And I'd recommend to get frequent exercise from 'Wicca' (that being your neck!) as this is a calorie burner from hell, the stair master from hades, and the bicep builder from just next door in South America.

Also another positive outlook is this was re-released in this century, though in limited numbers, by a label from their own country with a remastered sound that essentially raises the volume. I find myself with the stereo system blaring louder than the regular versions.

Onto the frontalis, to the corrugator supercilii, and onto the depressor angulis oris facial expressions. 'Wicca' will cause many different medically related conditions, emotional and supernatural states. Ranging from possession, anger problems, epilepsy (even though not inherited), vomiting, headaches, paranoia, respiratory, heart, liver, and severe neck conditions. So my conclusion is: Your going to die anyhow, so you if you already deteriorate your body and soul with Beherit, Blasphemy, and Sarcofago then you might as well with Mystifier's 'Wicca.' Because it is a disease that affects only dark minded individuals (that's something that won't go down in the official medical books). *not liable for any malpractice or bad advice...except where bad advice is needed most