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Land Of Witches

    
       
       
       
     
             
Dark Embrace are a heavy metal band from Spain, enjoying a two decade plus career, releasing five albums to date - 'The Rebirth Of Darkness' (2006), 'The Call Of The Wolves' (2017), 'The Call Of The Wolves (Re-Howled)' (2022), 'Dark Heavy Metal' (2023), and 'Land Of Witches' (2024)...    
             
...featuring a blistering array of power driven speed and aggression across forty minutes of melodic death inspired foot to the floor heavy metal! The band are full of electrified energy and vitality as 'Land Of Witches' storms by with incredible pace, purpose and intent - Dark Embrace immediately into their stride with (album) opener 'We, The Witches'. Slamming listeners hard with a phenomenal sonic attack, Dark Embrace are fairly aggressive here, a touch of thrash metal ferocity oozing outta 'We, The Witches', the harsh vocals a perfect match to this type of gruff, rough and immensely tough heavy metal! An outstanding opening salvo, 'Land Of Witches' roars on with even more pace and power courtesy of 'Orcavella' - the level of head bang ability shooting right through the fucking roof! The band are on fire across the albums opening brace, shuddering the ground with the force of a thousand jack hammers smashing through concrete - the Spanish four-piece devastating landscapes to leave only a dark, desolate wasteland in their wake! Jaw dropping may be understating the albums first two songs, Dark Embrace delivering an exhilarating one-two - which becomes a terrific one-two-three as 'The Dark Land' accelerates hard outta the blocks to become the fastest song heard so far! The pace, power and oomph here is out of this world, 'Land Of Witches' making a bigger impact on the world than the discovery of electricity!    
             
And that's something that affects every person on the fucking planet - the Spaniards delivering a hard 'n heavy romp of melodic death powered traditional metal - 'My Darkest End' dropping a gear to adopt a mighty mid tempo foot stomp with the harshest vocal performance heard up to this point. The bands array of metal styles spans a number of genres, Dark Embrace attracting a very wide array of fans and followers - fans and followers that are going wild right now, 'Land Of Witches' continuing to set the world on fire with the return of blistering speed as 'A Blaze In The Sky' rockets off at high velocity! Planting their feet firmly on the old school heavy metal monitor, Dark Embrace are rampant here, blending the iconic NWOBHM with the ferocity of thrash and the aggression of melodic death - the three genre onslaught defying gravity and electromagnetism to become one of the strongest forces on Earth! So strong in fact, that everyone on the entire planet is gravitating towards the Spanish outfit, attracted by the incredible infectious level the band weave into every song on offer - 'Never Betray You' the next delicious morsel to get you dripping like an IV bag delivering medication! How the band maintain the sky high levels of pace and power I don't fucking know, but I'm glad they do, a more menacing feel descending upon the album as 'Never Betray You' returns the traditional metal gallop to the fore. Along with searing pace too, Dark Embrace speeding down the autopista at well in excess of the local speed limit - nothing and no-one are gonna catch this band when they're in full flight!    
             
'Land Of Witches' has become one of the years biggest surprises, dropping the jaw of every listener to the floor with an almighty thud - a thud I can hear from here in the UK. And I'm over a thousand fucking miles away! Have Dark Embrace surged into contention for the Album Of The Year title - you bet you bottom dollar they have! Or should that be bottom euro - either way, 'Land Of Witches' is deserving of every accolade it receives, the album storming on with (probably) the fastest song heard so far, 'A Place To Hide' featuring cleaner vocals than any other song heard so far! Yes the harsh howls and scowls are still there too, Dark Embrace maintaining their incredibly varied approach to heavy metal - 'Witch Tower' chiming in as the longest song on offer. Clocking in at over six minutes in length, 'Witch Tower' is a monumental slab of metal, the band blending the speed of power metal with the ferocity of thrash and the glorious gallop of traditional heavy metal - the Spanish outfit running the gamut of the entire metal genre to deliver quite possibly the best song on 'Land Of Witches'. Now there's an old gloomy saying that "nothing good lasts forever" - however, this good album (it's actually a great album) will last forever if you put it on constant replay! And in the digital age we all live in now, there's absolutely no chance of your vinyl record wearing out! And right there I'm showing my age - vinyl record! You know I meant CD right! 'Land Of Witches' is brought to a close with the slower paced, eerie stroll of 'In The Snow', the band adopting a menacing nature that's gonna send shivers down the spine of every listener, Dark Embrace dispensing with the blistering speed of every other song on the album.    
             
Overall, a tremendous tsunami of speed, aggression and ferocity, 'Land Of Witches' blends to perfection traditional and melodic death metal.    
             
             
Review by Iron Mathew Collins    
             
Reviewed for Metal Gods TV    
             
             
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