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Franconian Witchcraft is a fun little monster of an EP from Germany's The Flesh Trading Company. The band name might have you guessing death metal and that is not altogether incorrect though this isn't the burping, uber-gross lyrics stuff; it's more thrashy, bruising metal in the mold of Sodom or Kreator. The vocals are harsh but entirely understandable, which is not the easiest feat, and the riffs are just simple, no-nonsense ass kickers. Most of the songs on Franconian Witchcraft deal with, well, witchcraft, always a cool subject for metal. I found it impossible to not sing along with "Witches Sabbath" and "Black Spell Conspiracy". Not to be a one-trick-pony, The Flesh Trading Company slip in a good, old-fashioned ode to heavy metal called "Metal Maniacs", a song so raw, exuberant and lovingly '80s it should bring a tear to Cronos' eye.

I find Franconian Witchcraft possesses something entirely missing from a lot of today's metal; fun. The members of The Flesh Trading Company have the songwriting chops and devil-may-care attitude that make this EP hard to resist.