Stormwitch - Witchcraft

*=Staff's pick	The Sinister Child At The Break Of This Day Fallen From God Frankenstein's Brothers* Until The War Will End Witchcraft Sleeping Beauty Puppet In A Play The Kiss Of Death Moonfleet Salome The Drinking Song* Blood Lies In My Hand (feat. Martin Winkler)

Genre	Heavy Metal	Andy Mück	Vocals
Tracks	13	Martin Winkler	Guitar
Runningtime	58 Min.	Fabian Schwarz	Guitar
Label	Nuclear Blast	Dominik Schwarz	Bass
Release	15 Nov. 2004	Marc Oppold	Drums
Country	Germany	Alexander Schmidt	Keyboards
Similar artists	---

Twenty years after the debut Walpurgis Night, Stormwitch present us their latest release Witchcraft, Nuclear Blast Records. Well, I haven't the exact info about the history of this band, more than the fact that they have been going on for quite some time now and that they had a period of about eight years with no or very little activity prior to the release of the Dance With The Witches album 2002.

What to say about this, then? This is Heavy/Power metal the light way, so to speak. The three opening songs don't speak much to me, and it's with a relief I hear the opening riffs on Frankenstein's Brothers. Classic heavy metal with pounding bass lines and fat guitars. The problem is that all the songs seem to flow together. Not much of suprising elements or happenings on this album. It goes on in a very slow and laid back tempo throughout the whole album.

For the fans of this type of heavy metal I guess that this album is a must. But for those of us who appreciates a bit of speed and heaviness at least, this album has very little to offer. Extremely good musicians and well produced material, but there seems to be none or little soul/passion in this music. Some tempo and a bit of variety, as can be heard on Puppet In A Play and The Drinking Song, save this album from being a complete failure, and more of it would make this way better.

Production	Vocals	Compositions
7	4	4

Summary
4 chalices of 10 - Tim