Burning Witches ‘Dance with the Devil’
Album Review By Adam McCann
Nuclear Blast RecordsHeavy/Power Metal
Burning Witches blasted onto the scene back in 2016 with the Swiss band delivering a perfect blend of both heavy and power metal with their eponymous debut album the following year. Fast forward a few years and Burning Witches have just released their third studio album ‘Dance with the Devil’.
The first thing to note with ‘Dance…’ is the change in vocals with former vocalist Seraina Telli stepping down from the microphone being replaced by former Shadowrise vocalist Laura Guldemond. This obviously means there is a change in delivery, Guldemond pushes ‘Dance…’ to having a sound more similar to Doro, but also something a little more accessible such as Battle Beast. What this means is that Burning Witches have battened down the hatches and created an album which has some fantastic songs such as ‘Necromonicon’, ‘Lucid Nightmare’ and the title track; these songs are well crafted and shows the experience now oozing through Burning Witches. However, the songs on the previous album are actually just marginally better partly down ‘Dance…’ containing the pretty mediocre ballad ‘Black Magic’. This aside, what ‘Dance…’ delivers is an album full of memorable songs, excellent riffs and enjoyable heavy metal that has all appeal of late 80’s metal alongside a band expanding their sound to adapt to a significant change in their line-up and coming out on top.
‘Dance…’ might not have the songs that the previous album had, but who cares? Burning Witches deliver an album, barring the ballad, which is once again very, very good. Fans of female fronted heavy metal with power metal touches should definitely check out this album, it will undoubtedly not disappoint.
Rating : 84/100
MHF Magazine/Adam McCann
