Witch

Largely cause not many people have heard about this interesting talented batch from Bergamo, Lombardy, who cleaned a “Dirty Fellow” initially, with four tracks of bouncy retro heavy/power metal which sounded like directly extracted from the grimoires of fellow magicians from the US like Griffin, Omen, early Helstar…

the demo reviewed here doesn’t beat about the bush, the band jump into the occult headlong, with the very title, the first rites unleashed being “Beltrein Rites”, a dark potent galloper with suggestive intricate fibres creeping here and there, bravely touching the untouchable, namely Helstar’s own “Nosferatu”, the singer’s clean high-strung but not very rehearsed timbre stumbling on the more dramatic octaves. He does carry on, though, unperturbed by those high-pitched shrieks that he often emits, trying hard not to ruin the more lyrical clout of “Piece of Mind” with a more composed, less adventurous croon, this number a tad mellower than the rest which also includes the macabre pounder “R.E.M.”, a stylish nod at Sanctuary’s “Into the Mirror Black” with a cool speedy ornament. “Glassnost” bows to the democratic reforms in Russia and the Eastern European Bloc lyrics-wise, and on the music front it sticks to an array of formidable intricate gallops, those leading to a cut which is only featured on the youtube version of the demo, “No Apartheid” it’s called, another heroic horse-rider with fearsome technical riffs bordering on thrash, a really nice more uplifting way to wrap on this witchy ritual.

A very cool little package, also overcoming the muddy production hindrances from the first instalment, the band rocking hard with vision, one that could have propelled them higher into the metal echelons, at least in their homeland, if they had reached wider exposure. A venerable bow to the US power metal movement this is, also having in mind that this particular current never grew roots in Italy, if we exclude the early feats of the prog veterans Eldritch, and a few isolated albeit fine attempts (Creepin’ Death, Oblivion). The “Croci” EP, which showed up in the middle of the 90’s, is nearly half an hour long, but at this point in time it's impossible to find. I personally think this was another witch-like concoction assisted by vigorous, sinister old school power metal rhythms.