Still Evil

Greece’s Witchcurse is a textbook throwback to the early 80’s traditional metal sound, evident in both style and production where the latest EP Still Evil is concerned. For what the band represents they’re certainly not bad, though nothing overly amazing either. I guess the middle-road potency is a fair assessment.

These two tracks from the EP really find a niche for the early Iron Maiden sound, especially “Way of Life” which easily reminds me of “Running Free” in both vocal performance and singular guitar attack that Dave Murray and Adrian Smith might find a prideful, albeit blueprint homage. In this capacity the band is fun if you are a Maiden connoisseur of low expectations, but for the more schooled or versed metal fan Witchcurse finds the line between imitation and influence distorted at its worst and blurred at the very least. The first track “I’m No Fool” is the finer example of the two simply due to the least amount of Maiden covering it. While not an all-consuming or spot-on effort, vocalist ‘Possessed’ (seriously?) pulls a Di-Anno calling like no other in recent memory.

This is a fun little EP that has bugs in unoriginality, but for what it is and doesn’t claim to be it’s worth picking up for a blast back in time about 31-years, give or take an EP or demo. The music is interesting enough to warrant your attention, provided you don’t expect much outside of London’s underground circa 1979. If you can ignore such trivialities you’re assured an engaging listen, but not one you couldn’t get in the early Maiden catalog.

(Originally written for MetalPsalter.com)