When you have not one, but five gorgeous women sharing their devotion to create music discussing demons and witchcraft, you have Switzerland’s outfitters Burning Witches and their latest offering The Witch Of The North which is released through Nuclear Blast Records. To describe Burning Witches’ sound is taking their influences for traditional heavy metal, power and very little hints of speed reminiscent of Judas Priest, Primal Fear, Accept, Battle Beast, Running Wild and Iron Maiden. Burning Witches are a heavy and power metal band who’s been around since 2015 after their last album in 2020 being Dance With The Devil which took the band on a much more contemporary, modernized and structured style of metal which brings back the earlier stages of heavy metal to such new heights but don’t let the album art of that nature be fooled, Burning Witches are meant to be a thrilling experience to witness such catchy and memorable pieces of music that this band will be a household name in the community for a longtime.
This album demonstrates huge and larger variations in terms of musical professionalism, creativity, songwriting, lyrical content and the overall replay value on the record really seems to get your adrenaline going as many heavy metal bands who use power metal signatures can be tiresome since the melodies, hooks and leads can sound the same, I think Burning Witches’ sound and formula is well articulated and structured to the point I didn’t bore myself to death as I felt this release really set Burning Witches sky high to create the most high-quality records they’ve done to date both musically and lyrically speaking. There’s songs where I feel they’ve taken a huge leaps and bounds to make every arrangement and signature to be somewhat technical and more of a aggressive side of things but as I heard songs such as Lady Of The Woods, Nine Worlds, Dragon’s Dream, Tainted Ritual, and the cover for Savatage’s Hall Of The Mountain King for instance allowed the band to explore into a much more energetic and unique approach as these magnificent abilities and talent from these musicians share their Accept and Judas Priest style sound is still quite prominent but the amount of dedication and effort they’ve created for the album seems to be matured than prior releases which is far consistent and engaging to the time I’ve listened to the album front to back.
I would say certain songs on the second half of this record does have that 80’s inspired thrash metal element where the guitars have a mid-tempo and paced rhythm to balance out the overall progression and experimentation this band was aiming for and that alone, I give them props to dive deeper into new heights. Burning Witches are a force to be reckon with in the upcoming heavy and power metal scene and The Witch Of The North is a record to pay homage to their heroes in the 80’s to 90’s heavy metal scene and if you’re looking for a album that is uncomplicated with catchy, fiery and hook driven pieces of music, do not pass up on Switzerland’s Burning Witches.
Overall Score: 9.0/10
Review by Jake Butler
