Hellwitch - Complete Discography

HELLWITCH arose from the depths in October of 1984. Founding members Patrick Ranieri and Harry Tiyler recorded the first demo, a one track venture, in the living room of their apartment in Gainesville, Florida. The track, Nosferatu, consisted of Pat on all guitars, and Harry on drums (i.e. a seat cushion and a textbook) and vocals. Pat composed the music and the two of them penned the lyrics.

Download "Nosferatu" demo.

In February 1985 Dave Silverstein and Andy Adcock joined the HELLWITCH ranks; Pat took on vocals and bass as well as guitar, Andy became the bassist/guitarist, and Dave replaced Harry on "drums". The band's first show was on July of 1985, opening for a local punk band, ROACH MOTEL. Over the course of that year, HELLWITCH gained a large local following and opened for such bands as Corrosion of Conformity (C.O.C.), D.R.I. and Agnostic Front. Over the next 2-3 years HELLWITCH grew as one of Florida's death metal pioneers playing with various established bands such as ANTHRAX, NUCLEAR ASSAULT, D.R.I, KREATOR, DEICIDE, MORBID ANGEL, DEATH, DARK ANGEL, CORONER, G.B.H., NASTY SAVAGE, and ATHEIST. HELLWITCH recorded their first studio demo entitled Transgressive Sentience in January 1986. The demo features Torture Chamber, Satan's Wrath, Nosferatu, and the instrumental epic, Fate At Pain's End.

Download "Transgressive Sentience" demo.

A remixed version of Torture Chamber appears on a compilation LP on New Renaissance Records entitled Thrash Metal Attack, released in July 1987.

Download "Torture Chamber" (Thrash Metal Attack version)

The band's second studio demo, Mordirivial Disemanation, released in June 1987, contains four tracks, Purveyor Of Fear, Pyrophoric Seizure, Degeneration, and a newer version of Nosferatu.



Download "Mordirivial Disemanation" demo.

In July of 1988, Pat relocated to Ft. Lauderdale, Fl. and began auditioning bassists and drummers. A new line-up consisting of Pat on guitars and vocals, Frank Watkins on bass, and Steve Rincon on drums, released a rehearsal/demo in March of 1989. It features the tracks Mordirivial Disemanation, Viral Exogence, and a cover of DEATH's immortal "ARCHANGEL". Soonafter, Pat decided that the level of musicianship left much to be desired. At that point, Pat recruited drummer Joe "Witch" Schnessel, and bassist Jesse Trevino. In June 1989, Flight 19 Records released a 7 inch single featuring two tracks from the "M.D." demo. That release quickly sold out. Around August 1989 Jesse was replaced by bassist Tommy Mouser. In October 1989, HELLWITCH approached Wild Rags Records and negotiated for the release of the band's first full length LP, Syzygial Miscreancy. The album, released in December of 1990, contains 7 songs including Viral Exogence, Mordirivial Disemanation, and Sentient Transmography. The LP was recorded at Morrisound Studios with veteran producer Scott Burns and has sold over 10,000 copies world wide.

Download "Syzygial Miscreancy" album

In late 1990, the band added Jim Nickles as second guitarist and completed successful tours of New Jersey and made an appearance at the 1990 Milwaukee Metal Fest. In February of 1991, Jesse Trevino returned to the band, Jim left the band and a very successful 4 date tour of Texas shortly followed. In late 1991 HELLWITCH acquired a new second guitarist, Craig Shattuck. A 3 song E.P. was recorded in August 1991 at Morrisound for Wild Rags. The Terraasymmetry E.P. contains the title track, Dawn of Apostasy, and a remake of the 1986 demo classic Satan's Wrath. This work, released in 1992 on Lethal Records (RIP OFFS!), showed just how extreme the level of song composition had become. Terraasymmetry sold 4,000 copies worldwide.

Download "The Terraasymmetry " EP.

In March of 1992, Joe "Witch" Schnessel left the band, but briefly returned in 1993 before finally departing for good. Jesse then moved to Texas and Craig moved to the bassist position. The band cut all ties with Wild Rags Records in September of 1992 after bogus sales figures were found to be reported. After having problems finding a suitable replacement for Joe over the next year, Craig lost interest and Pat was left alone. In early 1994 Pat found drummer Joel Suarez and the Anthropophagi demo was soon recorded with Pat playing all instruments except for drums. In November of 1994 the Anthropophagi demo was released. It contains 5 songs including At Rest, Days of Nemesis, Torture Chamber and a reworked, non-instrumental version of the classic '86 demo track, Fate At Pain’s End. It has sold around 1500 copies to date.

Download "Anthropophagi" demo.

Around the time of this release, J.P. Brown joined as second guitarist and Craig also rejoined. In early 1995 Joel decided he was sick of death metal and wanted to join a rap band. After many months of looking, Gabe Lewandowski was recruited as drummer. The members worked profusely on new material that would secure them a new record deal. In late 1996 HELLWITCH signed with Nazgul's Eyrie Productions for the release of the next CD. Due to the distance between Gabe and the rest of the band (3 hour drive!) an enormous strain was put on the relationship. Some of the newest songs were Final Approach, Epitome of Disgrace, and Mythologicalies (Enlightened Paganus). Rehearsal versions of the newest songs were recorded but were never properly captured in a studio setting. After a year of writing/rehearsing and numerous delays concerning the new recording, things reached a point where no one was really happy. The band split again in 1997. On Halloween 1998 the last line up reformed and played a show with Deicide and Acheron in Hallandale, FL.

Download "Live Hallendale" live demo.

The band remained split from then until early 2004. Around February 2004 Joe "Witch" and Pat re-established contact and began to practice the old songs just for fun whenever either had some free time. Soon, things became more serious and around April 2004 Craig was asked to rejoin on bass. The band played their first show in 6 years on July 24th, 2004 in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. with Malevolent Creation and Divine Empire. Around September 2004 , J.P. Brown rejoined as 2nd guitarist. That month the band also played again with Deicide. In 2005 HELLWITCH worked on 5 songs for a new demo. The recording featured the tracks, Final Approach, Epitome Of Disgrace, Opiatic Luminance and Mythologicalies (Enlightened Paganus).

Download "2005 Promo" demo.

Aside from everything, the truth remains that HELLWITCH was in fact a pioneer in the underground death metal scene and shall always be recognized as an innovative and uncompromising force in music.

Line-up

Pat Ranieri - Guitar/Vocals
Craig Shattuck - Bass
J. P. Brown - Guitar
Alex Marquez - Drums