Burning Witches cast a spell with their fifth studio album The Dark Tower. Their debut release with Napalm Records is a very impressive piece of work, to say the least. A point proven by ‘Unleash The Beast’ which they certainly do as this beast bares its teeth and claws on wild thrash metal. Riffs are unrelenting, as is the tumultuous drum cavalcade and banshee-delivered lead vocals that precede the opening track ‘Rise of Darkness’, a gently strummed brief intro with an angelic chanted vocal.
Other choice cuts include ‘Renegade, a NWOBHM-tinged pounder that romps and stomps seismically on sturdy riffing and a lung-threshing vocal. The rage doesn’t let go as ‘Evil Witch’ is a raging slab of pit opening thrash that ticks all the boxes from a superhuman drum assault, razor-sharp guitars, and powerfully chanted choruses.
An earworm-tapped guitar intro for ‘World on Fire’ lights the fuse for proto-power metal that hits new levels of brutality in the Armageddon inducing choruses and galloping outro. ‘Tomorrow’ is not just a ballad but a magnum opus that rises and falls on a heartbreaking vocal, laid-back grooves that include soft guitar lines, ending on a hope-giving message. ‘House Of Blood’ is a one-minute spoken word intro to the album title track. A lengthy guitar-heavy grind heads off into thrashtastic verses and chest-beating choruses of “Lock, lock, lock them in the tower”.
‘Doomed To Die’ is a thrilling thrasher to ignite any crowd, a major rager of the highest order and one last assault to our hearing comes from album closer
‘The Lost Souls’. Another kick drum battery pins down rhythms to lose our minds to as it’s like being in the eye of a hurricane, backed by a vocal so evil, it should be exorcised!
Words By Dennis Jarman
