Customer Reviews

Year of the Witch

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This CD HAS made an impression on me.. Its awesome !!!
It really grew on me.... pick it up, it takes a little while to start to like it, but you will, and youll love it !!
I got this CD for only 15 bucks at the Seven Witches concert in Toronto, an dI even got it signed by the band !!!!
Cant wait for the DVD to come out !!!

I only ever heard of Seven Witches due to Jack Frosts brief dalliance with Savatage. I got the inside tip that this band was OK and saw this album for peanuts so picked it up right quick. I darn glad that I did though it's not earth shattering. My two cents worth being;

I agree with the other reviewers in that Metal Asylum is a pretty cool track. And a good way to start an album. It's kind of an ode to metal maniacs all over and just works. All sorts of vocal gymnastics are on display from vocalist James Riviera and this track pretty much sums up the music your going to get for the rest of the album, so have a listen to the sample if you can.

After the initial track things continue apace, the crunchy guitars of Jack Frost (cough) stomping all over the place through tunes like Fires Below and Voice of Jacob and it helps to have a solid/bass rhythm section.

Production values are OK - Jack Frost himself was the producer and doesn't get an ego over it, but lets the other musicians have their fare share of the noise mix - and there is a sense of purpose in the air. Ultimately this is second or maybe even third tier 'true metal' as Manowar might say. It's lacking the spark that would take it to full on kick [...] four and five star territory however.

It should be mentioned that his album is sort of split into a first and second half, the latter is a mini-suite sort of telling a story and includes chestnuts such as the driving Haunting Dreams. Strap THAT on.

A worthy album to try if your a power metal/true metal fans who prefer vocals that don't go straight to the stratosphere and stay there the whole way through. Perhaps for fans of Kamelot and Savatage.

I really liked this CD, I LOVE SEVEN WITCHES, but I think there was something just missing from this CD. The first song is by far the best on the CD, Metal Asylum.... its awesome..
I just couldnt get into the others too much.. maybe its only cause I havent had it long enough to grow on me, but a good CD no matter what the music is, grabs you the first time you listen to it, this one has yet to grab me anywhere :(
There are a few other good tunes on it, but listen to it yourself, you may think otherwise !!!!

Wow...This is Good. It's heavy, fast, lots of licks (LEAD GTR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!), cool words than you can understand. And that My formula for for great metal.

Long live METAL, until deaf do us part...JRK

Seven Witches is a band that can't seem to capitalize on their momentum.

The last album, Passage To The Other Side was pretty good.And it seemed they might step up to the leagues of say Savatage.But no,this album is a step backwards.

The songs are mostly medeocre traditional metal.Doing more of a "tribute" style type metal(check out the opening track Metal Asylum )to bands like Priest & Maiden.Rather than carve out their own sound.

Another bumber is that it's advetised that Dave Elfson of Megadeth fame is on this CD,replacing Joey Vera on bass,buthe is not.He simpily wrote a song called If You Were God that's on the disc.And it's clear Elfson was'nt writing too much for Megadeth 'cause it's a weak track.The new bass player is Dennis Hayes.

It's not all bad though,the production is sonic and it is true head banging metal.And Jack Frost is a cool guitarist with some decent riffs.But it's nothing that has'nt been done a thousand times over,and better at that.

The best thing on the disc is a Track called Jacob,which is really 8 tracks that close the album and tell a story.Pretty good,and actually the direction I'd like to see them go in,which is a little more progresive.

If you want straight up traditional metal done to perfection check out Saxon's Lionheart album released this year.Smokin'!