Stormwitch
Season of the Witch
Massacre Records
2015
Back in the 80s, Stormwitch, which featured the very talented and late Harald Spengler aka Lee Tarot, did release 3, albums of classic, dark and melodic metal, with some great songs featured in there. Upon the release of their 4th album “Beauty and the Beast” in 1987, which featured the band’s first ballad, the fans soon started to refer to them as “The masters of black romantic”. And indeed they were... however the progressive “softer approach” and the following albums not being as successful, caused the band to disband in 1996.They briefly returned and released two more albums but split up again shortly after the release of the second one, only to come back again in 2010, with an all new line-up.
Now comprising of vocalist Andy Muck, guitarists Ralf Stoney and Volker Schmietow, bassist Jurgen Wannenwetch and drummer Micha Kasper, who recently replaced Peter Langer who left the band due to private reasons, Stormwitch 2015, isn’t as “compelling” or “hot rocking” as their early incarnations, feeling both a bit dated and not able to recapture their former glories. Without containing necessarily bad songs, “Season of the Witch” sounds like it was recorded and mixed on a shoestring budget and Muck, who always had a tendency to be a little pitch-y, even back in the analog days (but wouldn’t sound that bad) now on the extremely “damnating” digital, seems to flutter on several songs quite badly/audibly with correction, being quite evident. The hollow, treble production also leaves him towering above almost all else, which doesn’t help too much.
The opener “Evil Spirit”, which begins with a small spoken part, which is rather weird, has a nice riff, but features a really questionable vocal performance by Muck, which is a pity, because he manages to lay out the chorus pretty nicely and with a fuller production and a bit more care for the verse vocals, this could have turned out much better.
“Taliesin” tries to be epic and has some epic sounding wails, (that sound quite off). It’s a nice song however with some great medieval atmosphere and a pretty good chorus.
The “Last Warrior” also seems to have a questionable and un-even vocal performance with Muck attempting to reach notes that he clearly has not control over. Again a nice song, marred by a mediocre performance. Simple but effective solo, as well.
“True to the End” is an unrepentant – sort of anthemic – song, with Muck managing to muck it up, during the chorus this time. But apart from a “sing a long”-able chorus, this is a lesser number.
The eponymous song, “Season of the Witch”, is thankfully, much much better and because more of the verses, don’t require Muck to end on a high note and to sustain it, he manages to sound quite better here, during the verses, only becoming a little borderline during the triumphant chorus. (Oops)
“Runescape” is a ballad and not a bad one at that, with Muck showing that he can sing, or at least he could sing much better, sometime ago... but there’s still soul and “fire”, in his delivery. Not bad.
“At the End of the World” sounds suitable dramatic and quite urgent. It’s quite a melodic song, maybe one of the most melodic ones, with a huge, pre-chorus that leads into a very rhythmical almost “dance-able” chorus. Interesting at the very least... in a good way.
“The Trail of Tears” is a pretty good, slower song, that’s driven by a heavy riff, which repeats over and over, while Muck sounds suitably lamenting.
Finally “Harper in the Wind” is a decent mid-tempo track that seems to conclude the album, with a rather, un-expected and harsh fadeout... weird.
Now, Stormwitch’s latest isn’t actually too bad, but it’s really poorly and hastily recorded, which doesn’t help at all. Beware the witch is alive, the band may say, but boo bitch craft, says I! I can’t overlook the sound quality, although I wish I could, since there are a bunch of quite decent tunes here… if the band could get a bit heavier and more spirited and capture that “sound” I’d like to hear some more stuff from them... right now, I must say, it’s more likely that I will refer to the bands earlier works, if I want to listen to some be-“witching” tunes.
Now comprising of vocalist Andy Muck, guitarists Ralf Stoney and Volker Schmietow, bassist Jurgen Wannenwetch and drummer Micha Kasper, who recently replaced Peter Langer who left the band due to private reasons, Stormwitch 2015, isn’t as “compelling” or “hot rocking” as their early incarnations, feeling both a bit dated and not able to recapture their former glories. Without containing necessarily bad songs, “Season of the Witch” sounds like it was recorded and mixed on a shoestring budget and Muck, who always had a tendency to be a little pitch-y, even back in the analog days (but wouldn’t sound that bad) now on the extremely “damnating” digital, seems to flutter on several songs quite badly/audibly with correction, being quite evident. The hollow, treble production also leaves him towering above almost all else, which doesn’t help too much.
The opener “Evil Spirit”, which begins with a small spoken part, which is rather weird, has a nice riff, but features a really questionable vocal performance by Muck, which is a pity, because he manages to lay out the chorus pretty nicely and with a fuller production and a bit more care for the verse vocals, this could have turned out much better.
“Taliesin” tries to be epic and has some epic sounding wails, (that sound quite off). It’s a nice song however with some great medieval atmosphere and a pretty good chorus.
The “Last Warrior” also seems to have a questionable and un-even vocal performance with Muck attempting to reach notes that he clearly has not control over. Again a nice song, marred by a mediocre performance. Simple but effective solo, as well.
“True to the End” is an unrepentant – sort of anthemic – song, with Muck managing to muck it up, during the chorus this time. But apart from a “sing a long”-able chorus, this is a lesser number.
The eponymous song, “Season of the Witch”, is thankfully, much much better and because more of the verses, don’t require Muck to end on a high note and to sustain it, he manages to sound quite better here, during the verses, only becoming a little borderline during the triumphant chorus. (Oops)
“Runescape” is a ballad and not a bad one at that, with Muck showing that he can sing, or at least he could sing much better, sometime ago... but there’s still soul and “fire”, in his delivery. Not bad.
“At the End of the World” sounds suitable dramatic and quite urgent. It’s quite a melodic song, maybe one of the most melodic ones, with a huge, pre-chorus that leads into a very rhythmical almost “dance-able” chorus. Interesting at the very least... in a good way.
“The Trail of Tears” is a pretty good, slower song, that’s driven by a heavy riff, which repeats over and over, while Muck sounds suitably lamenting.
Finally “Harper in the Wind” is a decent mid-tempo track that seems to conclude the album, with a rather, un-expected and harsh fadeout... weird.
Now, Stormwitch’s latest isn’t actually too bad, but it’s really poorly and hastily recorded, which doesn’t help at all. Beware the witch is alive, the band may say, but boo bitch craft, says I! I can’t overlook the sound quality, although I wish I could, since there are a bunch of quite decent tunes here… if the band could get a bit heavier and more spirited and capture that “sound” I’d like to hear some more stuff from them... right now, I must say, it’s more likely that I will refer to the bands earlier works, if I want to listen to some be-“witching” tunes.