This is Seven Witches' second album and I'm pretty impressed with the extremely grooving vibe they put forth, this is raw, heavy and ultra tight Power Metal with high pitch vocals of the finest kind.
After a short fitting intro we go into
The Answer, a mid-tempo song with a slow pounding rhythm that could crack any kind of metal. Jack
Frost throws in a cool shredding solo and the mysterious key arrangements create just the right mood.
The gloomy key beginning of
Witching Hour followed by marching drums and heavy bass chords set a tense intro that gets an extra kick when the massive guitar riff sets in.
Bobby Lucas' varied and spectacular vocals give it that something extra, overall his performance is excellent.
Atlantis gets a full drum onslaught that raises the level of heaviness an inch higher. Teasing leads and a monster groovy bass approach are other highlights in a good song with a rather simple build up.
A minus for the record is that there are two songs that don't quite live up the high standard. The refrain in
No Man's Land is simply too uninteresting and tiresome and I lack a thin red line in this otherwise tight track.
The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow has a cool gloomy atmosphere but the main rhythm is just too plain and it never really develops into something memorable.
Well back to the good stuff:
City Of Lost Souls is a great atmospheric and very diverse composition. The killer guitar bridge is of an incredible powerful species and once again I must give credit to Bobby's expressive vocal chords.
The hymn
We Are The Covern is set to leave the last positive impression, the catchy chorus works as a successful counterweight to a dark and slow rhythm path lead by fantastic vigorous guitar riffs.
A few words about the overall quite good lyrics: A suiting personal issue is featured in philosophical
The Answer, about life, loss and despair; otherwise we find themes about horror tales and ancient myths and magic, all fitting the dark shrouded moods nicely.
The production is pretty astonishing, I have seldom heard anything this raw and tight and it works perfect with the musical style.
The musicians all perform very well. The drums from John Osborn is played with a brilliant hard edge and still with lots of detail, Jack
Frost's playing is balanced and very heavy while Billy Mez puts in a very creative and heavy bass approach.
The album features two well performed cover songs but unfortunately not so much of their own stuff, seven regular songs and one short intro is in the low end.
A very heavy album with a rhythm section of immense force.
Written by
Tommy Wednesday, January 15, 2003
Show all reviews by TommyRatingsTommy: 6.5/10Members: No members have rated this album yet.
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