Witches' Sabbath - New World Plague

*=Staff's pick	False Truth Fails Bloodsheed* The Call of My Black Spirit Legions of Death* Stormwrath* Silent Path To Die* Deep In The Flesh Her Eternal Realm I* Her Eternal Realm II

Genre	Death/Black Metal	Eduardo Rodriguez	Vocals
Tracks	9	Eduardo Rodriguez	Guitar
Runningtime	44 Min.	Eduardo Salazar	Guitar
Label	Necromance Records	Luiz Henriquez	Bass
Release	20 May 2005	-	Drums
Country	Spain	-	Keyboards
Similar artists	Morbid Angel, Zyklon

Las Palma, Gran Canaria, Spain. A well-known paradise for sun thirsting tourists. Well, nowadays the island has a lot more than sun and cheap beer to offer. Witches' Sabbath seem to prefer the rehearsal dungeon rather than staying on the beach. A very good choice which in this case have resulted in the New World Plague album released through Spanish label Necromance Records.

Considering the bands' name, I was expecting some old school Black/Death Metal. The material on New World Plague that Witches' Sabbath present is very technical and brutal Death Metal with sampled and sequenced drums. Zyklon is a band that feels very related, but there are also influences from the early 90´s and the kind of metal that could be heard on such masterpieces as the Altars of Madness album by Morbid Angel. Old and modern in a way that is very convincing. The initial annoying fact that the drums are artificial is soon forgotten due to the fact that the sound is very authentic and programmed in a way that makes sense. Skilled musicians, and very good arrangements. Nice riffs in booth fast and mid-tempo parts though the fast pieces outnumbers the slow.

The song writing that Witches' Sabbath wield is not much to talk about, it's simply intense and extremely good. It's the production on this album that is the worst enemy, a bit thin sound. A heavy production with more depth in the guitar and bass sound would only be fair to the material that these songs present. The vocals performed mainly by E. Rodriguez are quite good. They work best when he uses his middle regions, reminds me a bit of Dave Vincent in the Altars of Madness era. Great, clean, almost massing chorus lines can also be heard.

A good album I really would recommend. Interesting massive Death Metal, plain and simple. To bad that the production aren't in the same good condition as the music. A band like Witches' Sabbath really deserves better. I'm looking forward to their next creation.

Production	Vocals	Compositions
6	7	8

Summary
7 chalices of 10 - Tim