I always have a soft spot for bands with a
cool name. And frankly, Witches' Mark is a damn cool name indeed. And also a
name that won't lie to the listener : with a name like that and the look of the
musicians, you'll expect nothing but old school Metal, and this is just what
you'll get. However, this won't be the usual Doom n' Stoner genre we've been
accustomed to see around here, but simple classic Heavy.
Now, the Austin-based band is quite good at
recreating that spirit that was so prevalent in the 80's (for those of us lucky
enough to have known it), or at least a correct rendition for the new
generation. Musically, it's über-classic Power Metal the US way. No need to
expect anything even remotely european in the sound, nor even a small part with
arrangements here : it's hard and straight into your face, with obviously some
basic riffs and song structures designed only to make you bang your head and
spill your beer. Now, presented this way, you could think that it's just
another of those shitty wannabe-Metal bands of the MTV generation spawned by
the success of the awful 3 Inches Of Blood. And luckily for us, it isn't the
case. As classic as it may sound, the Power/Heavy Metal from Witches' Mark is
something coming right from their guts and their love for the old ways. No
clean sound, no arrangements.
The vocals are what makes this album stands
a bit above the mass. They have this kind of wicked, creepy vibe that made so
many US Power Metal good back in the days. Not just your usual castrato
screams, but also an EVIL sound. It's just too bad that the rest of the music
sits on the average throne. Honestly, I would like to praise this album, as it
delivers the goods on more than one occasion, but it seems to me that Witches'
Mark have spent too much time in trying to emulate the old sound (and sometimes
even the cheesiness of that period, like on the opener “Bringer Of Heavy Metal
Death”)and not enough on actually writing real songs. This makes the album a
pleasant listening, but one that is easily forgotten on the disc stops.
There are around 4/5 cool tracks in the
records, some even being actually really great (“Salem's Fire” deserves to
become a classic song for the band), but mostly the album suffers from wanting
to be both goofy and serious. Some improvements could be also done in the mix,
as it is not that good. Maybe it's that
I'm becoming grimpy in my old age, that young bands wanting to take the various
vacant places left in the US Power Metal scene doesn't manage to grab me by the
balls like it still was in my teens. Witches' Mark are on the good path, I just
expect that next time they'll have exploited the potential I see in them to the
fullest. I'm pretty sure that they can do way better than this.
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