This is stripped down, back to basics and old school Heavy/Power Metal, and its good stuff.
This is already
Seven Witches fifth release and to make things a bit uncomplicated in the spirit of the actual musical content I have found it suiting to make a simple for and against list.
In favour of the witch:
- The idea of doing a song based on other bands and a grand dose of what Metal stands for seems a bit easy, but
Metal Asylum works immensely well. A very positive sounding and hard pounding hymn with references to classic bands like Iron Maiden,
Judas Priest and
Black Sabbath among many others.
- James Rivera: He simply rules from start to end, real charisma and fantastic high pitch screams. His spellbinding
passages of light vocal line in
Voice Of Jacob makes me reach out for the air mike for a loud sing along.
- The bass performance is very cool and tight as hell, take the title track with its massive groove and deep textures. The trashy and elaborate drumming style fits the album very well too.
Fires Below is a good example of the overall detailed and intense drumming found throughout the album, this being one of the best songs having a great fast guitar solo.
-
Seven Witches has a thing for making gloomy and dark pieces of Metallic art,
Can't Find My Way is a real treat. The unique mystic atmosphere coupled with James' emotional voice results in a magical cocktail that has a deep impact. Again wonderful bass lines and great melodic guitar leads.
- The last 8 songs make up a creation called Jacob, all in all a successful epic including some cool parts as the excellent
The Prophet Is You, a smart creation delivering proof to the fact that we are indeed dealing with some very competent musicians.
- The production is excellent and their best to date, crispy and with tons of balls.
- The fact that these songs to a high degree rely on driving guitar riffs is no problem when the quality makes them justice. One of my favourites is the exacting riff found in
Haunting Dreams, the ingenious and calm guitar structures in
Circles is another gem.
- The lyrics are most of the time interesting and solid writings, occultism, spiritual issues and a feeling of being lost are touched upon within interesting contexts.
- The direct and in the flesh attitude; this album has a very cool unbound force that rips hard.
Elements working against or keeping her from reaching higher (or is that lower):
-
Cries Of The Living gets off to a good and powerful start but it doesn't impress all in all. I miss something exciting and lack more challenging ideas in this one, the chorus being quite dull.
- Some of the tracks in the Jacob eightoligy are extremely short and I think they would have worked more naturally if fitted tighter into some of the exciting songs, the ending being too plain for my taste.
- The rather limited amount of playing time surely doesn't make it grasp for a higher rating.
- Most songs maintain a high quality level but it would had been nice with a couple of ultra memorable smashers.
As you can read the good stuff more than outweighs the elements that could have been better, just don't expect anything revolutionary or groundbreaking, this is stripped to the bone, the vivid nerve being very much intact though.
Year Of The Witch? There is something about it.
Written by
Tommy Wednesday, December 15, 2004
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