Greece’s Witchcurse call their album ‘heavy metal poison’ and open with a doom-laden organ and a sinister voice-over which is, as far as this reviewer is concerned, an excellent start to any album. Indeed, following the horror-movie introduction Witchcurse launch into a pure Iron Maiden beginning, all harmonised guitars and tinny bass. Sure the production is on the weak side (think the first two maiden albums) but there’s a healthy nostalgia about this lot that shows that Witchcurse know their NWOBH inside out and aren’t afraid to have their knowledge put to the test.
With the opening track impressing despite the rather shallow production, the second track continues the vein of decent metal with a nasty, old-school riff combining with Possessed’s vocals which, while not overly tuneful are perfect for this sort of thing and you can tell that he’s deeply committed to his art.One of the album highlights, ‘pay the price’ is definitely the song to check out from this lot and any leather-clad warriors out there in search of a fix of pure old-school metal will do a lot worse than check out this release. ‘I don’t want to grow up’ (surely the unofficial anthem of all metallers everywhere) bizarrely sounds strangely punky – possibly the result of Sid Vicious mating with various members of Black Sabbath and although you have to admire the band’s sincerity, it’s less successful than the previous two tracks. Happily ‘red light’ sees the band return to surer ground and they hit the listener hard with a beautifully harmonised guitar riff that chugs along at a decent speed while the vocals are back to their usual higher standard.
While it may be something of a metal cliché, when Witchcurse open ‘heavy metal kamikaze’ with the sound of a motorbike engine it feels somehow right and the ensuing track is of a quality and energy that only the most churlish of headbangers could ignore. Equally ‘Demolition derby’ swaggers on a riff that’s pure old school Iron maiden and that punky edge that only disappeared when (first singer) Di’Anno departed is retained here to great effect. ‘Drinkers from hell’ softens the pace somewhat, with a really nice tone to the guitars weaving a gentler web before a sudden treble-laden wall of guitars knocks you off your feet. Another high-octane blast of energy is ‘overcome the distance’ which has a simple, yet effective chorus and a nice riff. Better still is ‘Hard rockin’ man in 2010’ which is surely about the band themselves. The solidarity of ‘rock unite’ is also welcome and closing track ‘heavy metal poison’ leaves you with admiration for a band who are so resolutely old-school and so exciting.
Witchcurse are in no way an original band. However, where they score masses of points is their pure old-school fury that has helped them create an album that is both nostalgic and yet vaguely forward looking. The guitarists Stinky and Necro (they may want to rethink those names!) are both very talented shredders and both Possessed (who does double duty on bass as well as vocals) and Paul more than keep up their end as the rhythm section. While this is unlikely to find favour with fans of more modern metal, for those who have an interest in classic rock and heavy metal this is a belter of an album that deserves your attention far more than most of the over-produced, over-hyped rubbish that the likes of Korn belt out these days. A worthy album.
