Live Review: Bewitcher - Star & Garter, Manchester
29th May 2025
Support: Devastator, Bloodsaw
Words: Dan Barnes
Photos: Rich Price
Back in March, when Grand Magus supported Opeth, I made a comment during my review as to Magus being the best metal trio not called Motörhead or Venom. In a pique of prime hold-my-beer, Portland trio, Bewitcher, returned to Manchester for a night at the Star & Garter, and set out to prove me wrong.
Local lads, Bloodsaw get the honour of opening the show with their youthful take on old school thrash, right down to the white high-tops and cut-offs, they’re here to get the show off to a blistering start through a series of unapologetically timeless riffs and indulgent soloing. There’s a joyful excess coming from the band’s performance and, with only a couple of years as a functioning band behind them, Bloodsaw know how to whip-up a crowd. Sadly, technical issues plague the performance, leading to the request for a guitar tuned to D-standard. Gremlins aside, the lads make it through with a combination of new and old material and a thrashing cover of Priest’s Painkiller.
Main tour support comes from Derby deviants, Devastator, whose blackened thrash assault has the flavour and look of Belphagor. Complete with ram’s skull, studs and pseudo-corpse paint, the four-piece have a fat, ominous sound and blasting compositions. Splitting their set reasonably evenly between the Baptised in Blasphemy debut and Conjurers of Cruelty latest, Walpurgisnacht, the unstoppable charge of Black Witchery, and the Venom-like Howling Night commence the ritual. There’s grooves and grinds aplenty on Liar in Wait which even includes some ear-candy and a hook; their touring companions get a shout out in the introduction to Worship the Goat, with its punishing drums and screaming guitars, while Spiritual Warfare finds itself more accessible through its slower tempo and Maiden-like guitar harmonies, giving an epic metal sound.
Even a broken string cannot slow the momentum as Devastator snort and rampage their way to the set’s finale of Venom’s Witching Hour. There’s clearly a lot of love for the band in Manchester tonight as the room is pack to the gills, and the heat is most definitely rising.
You’d have to go back almost exactly six-years to the day since Bewitcher were last in town, up at the Aatma on their Under the Witching Cross tour. There’s been two albums and a global pandemic since that date – but it’s fondly remembered by Bewitcher guitar maestro, Matt Litton as one of the band’s finest shows.
Well, the Star & Garter, 2025, won’t let that stand and there’s a symbiosis tonight, between fans and band, that make this show feel something special indeed. Pulling their set from the whole of the discography, Starfire Maelstrom gets things going with a solid black thrash attack. Any notion Devastator’s set will be the one most remembered tonight is quickly dismissed as Too Fast for the Flames unleashes its breakneck speed and classic metal sound; Under the Witching Cross comes packed with Motörhead energy.
The whole set is a timeless example of the Bewitcher vibes; set the band against any similar sounding entity, be that the’ head, Venom or Japan’s Sabbat, up to more modern acts like Toxic Holocaust and Hellripper, and they would seamlessly fit.
Matt’s playing is on another level as his fingers dance effortlessly across the fretboard. Andy Mercil on bass and drummer Aris Wales lay a solid foundation upon which those riffs and solos can be built. Rome is on Fire carries an infernal sound as though a gaggle of cackling demons have hijacked the PA; Valley of Ravens comes with a real head-bobber of a riff, as Spell Shock’s low-end rumbles and thunders away.
Bewitcher are not precious about with whom they share their stage and have no objection to the parade of stage divers making use of the facilities. Worst of the repeat offenders is Bloodsaw bassist / vocalist, Ryan, who does not seem to have spent enough time on stage earlier and demonstrates the finer points of throwing himself off a platform and into the waiting arms below.
By the time Sin is in Her Blood comes around he’s leading a steady stream of acolytes up and off the stage, as the band continue to blast away; Satanic Magick Attack’s Welcome to Hell riff sees the parade of divers continue, with varying degrees of styles and success; and, as the set closes with the band’s eponymous track, even Aris decides it’s time to have a go and leaves the comfort of his drum-kit, launching himself into the slowly darkening Manchester sky.
Matt suggests tonight’s show has surpassed the Aatma gig and brings the curtain down on what must be one of the most Metal gigs of the year with a grooving Hexenkrieg.
An absolute banger of a show, in which all three bands played a pivotal role. Sometimes it’s easy to get jaded, but others, you just get to watch master-craftsmen making it look easy.
Hopefully won’t have to wait until 2031 for this Portland posse to ride back to town.
Photo Credits: Rich Price Photography
