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The Dark Tower
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The Dark Tower |
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| Burning Witches are an all female heavy metal band from Switzerland formed in 2015, who have released five albums to date - 'Burning Witches' (2017), 'Hexenhammer' (2018), 'Dance With The Devil' (2020), 'The Witch Of The North' (2021), and 'The Dark Tower' emerging in 2023... | ||||||
| ...featuring thirteen brand new songs across a fifty six minute barrage of blistering heavy metal! The music on show is emphatically stunning, the Swiss five piece in sparkling form - hitting harder than ever to plant smiles a mile wide on the faces of listeners, fans and followers. So batten down the hatches sports fans, and prepare yourselves for a heavy metal hurricane of the most fearsome kind - as Burning Witches breathe life into the new album with the one minute crescendo building and anticipation fuelled intro 'Rise Of Darkness'... | ||||||
| ...proceeding to unleash a ferocious fury with album opener proper 'Unleash The Beast' - and a terrific traditional "metal scream" from lead singer Laura Guldemond. And no fellow metalheads, it's not a cover of Saxon's 'Unleash The Beast' from their 1997 album of the same name. This is a Burning Witches original - the band at full tilt here, 'Unleash The Beast' galloping on with immense purpose and intent. Barnstorming heavy metal is what I've come to expect from Burning Witches - the bands new album getting off to an absolute flyer! And with a colossal NWOBHM guitar sound, 'Renegade' is old school flavoured to the fucking hilt! The band have got the tone, feel, and vibe of eighties heavy metal spot on - from an era forty years ago when legendary bands such as Angel Witch, Iron Maiden, Raven, Samson and Saxon were shaping the sound of heavy metal. And to be perfectly honest, 'Renegade' resonates strongly with the sound of eighties American metallers Phantom Blue - check out the bands 1989 self titled debut album to hear where I'm coming from! Especially when Guldemond sings the lines "walls are closing in" and "out of control" - lines from two different Phantom Blue songs, 'Never Too Late' and 'Out Of Control' respectively. Spooky huh! | ||||||
| Without taking their collective feet off the gas, Burning Witches motor on with the heaviest song heard so far, the demonically devastating 'Evil Witch' - shuddering the ground and shaking buildings to their foundations! The heaviness is the stuff of a metalheads dream, the head bang ability sky fucking high - moshers all around the world going nuts over a ferocious opening treble! A treble that's just perfection, everything you could ever want in a heavy metal album, and there's still plenty more to come, 'The Dark Tower' roaring on with the red hot 'World On Fire' - in your face aggression melded with the bands incredible level of infectious melodic heavy metal! And the anthemic chant style chorus is gonna be loved by every listener, fan, follower and concert goer, everyone everywhere screaming "set your world on fire" as loud as they possibly can. Fucking awesome stuff! But not so awesome, is the bands penchant for always including a ballad on their albums - regular readers will already know where I stand on ballads. But for all the new readers, ballads are for rock albums and not metal ones - it's just my opinion and I'm not for turning, so don't even try! | ||||||
| But in the shape of 'Tomorrow', the band follow 'Save Me' ('Burning Witches'), 'Don't Cry My Tears' ('Hexenhammer'), 'Black Magic' ('Dance With The Devil'), and 'Lady Of The Woods' ('The Witch Of The North') in taking the heavy metal storm through ballad country. All energy and power is dropped in favour of the mellow and serene, the band giving listeners a breather from the emphatic roller coaster ride up to this point. So raise your lighters high, sway from side to side, or do whatever takes your fancy when a ballad appears, I'm looking forward to the metal returning - which it does with the title song 'The Dark Tower', preceded by the one minute instrumental build up 'House Of Blood'. Then all hell breaks fucking loose, 'The Dark Tower' (the song) crashing in with a nineties black album era Metallica feel! The highly infectious groove metal style is rife, the band stomping harder than ever, cracking the ground with every stomp they take! Making a dramatic return, melodic heavy metal takes front and centre with the blistering 'Heart Of Ice', a fast paced gallop of immense head bang ability. This is what Burning Witches are fucking good at - full on, intense and infectious heavy metal. | ||||||
| Along with the more mid tempo swagger of anthemic metal, 'Arrow Of Time' a prime example of this. Burning Witches may have slowed the pace, but in no way shape or form have they reduced the heaviness! 'Arrow Of Time' may be heavy, yet the melodious intent is sky high, maintaining the albums overall feel of swashbuckling, blockbusting heavy metal! The band have definitely delivered once again - the fifth time in a prolific six years! Six times if you include the bands 2019 E.P. 'Wings Of Steel'. An incredible rate of productivity! Is it sustainable though? Only time will tell - so let's just enjoy what we have right now. Picking up the pace, 'Doomed To Die' storms on, devastating the land it hurtles across, banging heads harder than ever. The blistering speed melded with the traditional metal gallop is the stuff of dreams, everyone smiling from ear to ear while punching the air in sheer delight. | ||||||
| At nearly an hour in length, 'The Dark Tower' (the album) has plenty to offer, more than enough to satisfy the appetite of metalheads everywhere - including this old British metaller! And with only two songs left, the band keep their feet firmly pressed to the metal, 'Into The Unknown' returning the heavy anthemic nature of earlier. Maybe even heavier! But either way 'Into The Unknown' is a menacing stride of "get outta my way" attitude coupled with a melodic majesty the likes of which Iron Maiden, Loudness and Running Wild possess in abundance. And at six and a half minutes in length, 'Into The Unknown' is the longest song on offer! Bringing the album to a close, 'The Lost Souls' bustles its way across the land, bashing everything and everyone out of its way - Burning Witches ending their latest album as it began, with a torrent of traditional, old school flavoured heavy metal. | ||||||
| Overall, fast paced and highly head bang-able, 'The Dark Tower' is an infectious heavy metal gallop. | ||||||
| Review by Iron Mathew Collins | ||||||
| Other Reviews | ||||||
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| Burning Witches | ||||||
| "heavily influenced by the eighties NWOBHM evolution, this album is packed to the rafters with blistering heavy metal, that is both catchy and infectious" Read Review | ||||||
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| Hexenhammer | ||||||
| "a sparkling album of full on, galloping heavy metal, with a superb cover song to round off the album in cracking style" Read Review | ||||||
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| Burning Witches + Burning Alive | ||||||
| "an opportunity to own two releases in one package, the live songs on offer displaying the power and energy of Burning Witches during a live performance" Read Review | ||||||
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| Wings Of Steel E.P. | ||||||
| "a very good way to introduce their new singer - a polished studio recording and an energetic live performance" Read Review | ||||||
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| Dance With The Devil | ||||||
| "a glorious romp of heavy metal - fast, furious, aggressive yet highly melodic, 'Dance With The Devil' is bliss from the Swiss five piece" Read Review | ||||||
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| The Witch Of The North | ||||||
| "a very heavy yet melodic album of hard hitting heavy metal, showing progression and maturity from their previous releases" Read Review | ||||||
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