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The sound of cold wind blowing through an old house; a rising crest of feedback, an ultra-slow motion riff; a black-metal demon snarling and roaring--"Nail of Dicara" is like your ears freezing to death, and it's a great Burning Witch homage. But then, in the quick track's final seconds, the vocals start looping into a chorus of tortured wailing, a weird and obvious digital manipulation that pays off in effect: cold, brutal, and then almost/unintentionally pretty. Hey, maybe hell isn't so bad.

But it's the icing on the brimstone here. Virgin Witch is a Pulling Teeth side project--with this its initial offering--and on the flip side, "Sight Beyond Sight," Burning Witch homage becomes Celtic Frost homage in two minutes of pummeling black-metal beast, ears not frozen but ripped off and ground underneath in a masterful mid-song riff. A suitably destructive beginning for a promising band.

E-mail Micheal Byrne