Album Review: Türböwitch - Under Haunted Skies
Reviewed by Matthew Williams
With an eerie and sinister opening to the album, Hungarian’s Turbowitch show that they know how to create that air of mystery and tension as “Evoker of the Twilight” leads you into the explosion of some of the filthiest blackened speed metal you’ll hear.
The quintet, formed in Budapest in 2016, are led by original members Zsolt “Zslod” Ledeczi on vocals and Zsolt “Kommandante Klit” Harsanyi on lead guitar and the play a brand of no-frills, raw and aggressive speed metal, which earned them a spot 2024’s Wacken Open Air Festival. “Markolab” is exactly what you’d expect from this sub genre as they don’t hang about, but the bassline from Valdemar “Valde” Volcsanszky is worth a notable mention, as it’s brutally brilliant.
The album title track starts off with a menacing riff before that punk presence, combined with thrashy guitars from Kommandante and Peter “Mr Fireball” Toth alongside chaotic drums from Botond “Kaosz Bringer” Kasper takes over the song allowing the solo to shine through. That throaty phlegm driven “bleeuuurrgghhhh” appears throughout the album to add further attitude as “Cult Mastery” slows the speed down a bit but still fits perfectly.
“Ashbringer” takes the speed back up a few notches, with the backing vocals on the chorus being more noticeable this time. There’s one, albeit brief part of just drum and bass which I really enjoyed listening to and the bass again stands out further in the song. The speed of “Highways to Death” is sublime and an audible treat, with the riffs exploding out of the speakers. It’s one hell of a song, with a mesmerising solo, that fits the genre perfectly and will ignite the pit to furious levels of mayhem.
The band who are “hopelessly addicted to fast riffs” really let rip on “Ultimate Failure of Will” led in by another boisterous Valde bass line. It’s short, fast and aggressive, exactly what the listener wants and is followed by “When the World Crumbled” which expands their sound without any compromise, as it’s guitar heaven and riff heavy as they channel their inner 80’s metal souls.
“Moshpit at the End of the Day” just stomps all over your body and within seconds I can visualise a huge sweaty moshpit filled with people going absolutely nuts. They don’t tone anything down, it’s full speed or nothing, so get prepared physically if you intend to see these live. More booming bass blasts out of the mix and this has that clear thrash essence to it, which is why it’s probably my favourite track on the album. They end it with “Road to Resilience” with a more tempered sound before the scream signals their intent once again and they tear through another excellent song.
