Second War In Heaven

From the dark and sinister opening of "Rising Torches - Intro", you know that the band Seven Witches mean business, in a heavy way. From start to finish, its fist-to-the-air heavy metal all the way. Its pieces of early Iron Maiden, Dio, late 1980s Savatage (think - Hall of the Mountain King) and throw it into a blender and let it buzz for awhile, then chop up pieces of Running Wild, Sanctuary Manowar and add a dash of Iced Earth, and you come up with Seven Witches. Its all the heavy hitters wrapped up into one package oozing with personality and all the heavier things that you love. Lead singer, Bobby Lucas switches comfortably from Jon Oliva to Bruce Dickinson mode in the blink of an eye. Its that smooth transistion in the fine form like Warrel Dane (Nevermore) that makes the vocals something to definitely take notice of. The bass and drums are especially crucial here, and bassist Bill Mez and skin pounder Brian Vincent do their jobs respectively and with fire and passion giving backbone and added spark to each song. Jack Frost's guitar work drives the songs or supports them as needed. High flying fleet fingered solos top off each song to perfection. If you are looking for metal with a heavy bottom end while remaining in the world of power metal and not venturing over to the dark and death sides (with their yucky cookie monster growl vocals) then look no further. Seven Witches is filling up this void of the power world.

1.] Rising Torches - Intro - Booming thunder echoing the strike of a lightning bolt sets the mood for this disk immediately... followed by some equally booming bass and then drums.. each taking their turns to emerge... then some guitar, and faster drumming, picking up the pace little by little, to build into something grand... and finally into the first song...
2.] Dying Embers - Fast, furious with a nice pounding feel, its topped off with vocals that switch from rapid fire to all out screaming mode.
3.] Camelot - Taking Camelot by FORCE. And that's exactly what they do. Chugging guitar riffs support soaring power metal vocals. Kind of reminds me of a Hammerfall song, except with more powerful and brutal vocals, which in this case is a good thing.
4.] Nightmare (The Devil Inside) - slower pounding piece of work showcasing the rhythm section and some very chunky guitar riffs, exchanged for a bit more upbeat of a chorus.
5.] Bewitchment - One of my favorites on this disk for the heavy squealing guitar filled opening and a very powerful vocal performance that slightly reminds me of J.D. Kimball who sang in Omen at times, before breaking into something totally different even hitting lows that are Dio-like, nicely versatile. This changing in vocal sounds really brings out the feel of this material.
6.] Seven Witches - the opening sounds *disturbingly* like Geoff Tate. It took me awhile to put my finger on it but there's no doubt about the similiarity here. You can guess that this is another heavy tune.
7.] In A Small Child's Room - some acoustic guitars give this one an extra dimension, it has more melody than some of the others, and a super guitar melody, an a really nice overall feel. Another favorite of mine. Especially with the 'lighter' feeling. Of course near the guitar solo it morphs into a beefier sound. This is the standout tune on the disk in my opinion. Of course I love songs with great melodies, and this has it. The lyrics sound like they were inspired by the cover of Dio's "Dream Evil" about the evil creatures of the night hiding underneath the bed of the young.
8.] The Chain - Fleetwood Mac never sounded this good. That's right, "The Chain" is an old Fleetwood Mac song, resurrected and pumped full of heavy metal life. Some killer basswork in the middle stirs it all back up again to come back in full heavy force. Multiple vocal melodies "The Chain" the strong links in the middle to keep it together, with ripping axeslinging and frantically pounding drums polish it off.
9.] Scarlet Tears - Hitting the higher ranges, in a slow and dark acoustic beginning that changes to *very lightly* blues tinged squealing guitar and a much heavier sound that rips and tears it up.
10] The Second War In Heaven - Thrashy and heavy, the story of a battle between battalions of angels is told in a thrashy setting with screaming lyrics, that summons to memory bands such as Sanctuary. "There hasn't been a day like this since Lucifer fell"...
11.] Metal Daze - Manowar ... revisited. Paying tribute to the band that literally put the power into metal. Loose gang vocals, and that same crunch guitar that has dominated the rest of the disk is present here. Its a bit repetitive like the original, but it makes a nice finisher for the disk.