Album Review: Burning Witches – The Witch of the North (Nuclear Blast)

Not hanging about, Swiss metallers Burning Witches will release their brand new album, The Witch of the North on May 28th 2021 via Nuclear Blast.

Burning Witches are beginning to really make a name for themselves. Strong releases rooted in the core heavy metal sound but with melody and and epic flourishes, making them more fresh and modern sounding. Dance with the Devil was a high quality album and The Witch of the North is no different. 13 tracks and just short of an hour long (14 and over an hour long with the bonus track), there’s a lot of epic heavy metal to head-bang too.

Talking of which… a grand thriller of an intro (Winter’s Wrath) leads into the superb offering that is the title track. Burning Witches bringing every ounce of their strength and power to this track and lifting the spirits as only heavy metal can. Vocalist Laura is on absolute fire here too.

The bar has been well and truly set. So it’s up to Tainted Ritual to match it by going for speed. The riffs and drums combining to set the heart racing and get the blood pumping fast. We Stand As One then proves once and for all the Burning Witches know how to create anthems. You can almost hear the crowd shouting the chorus on command.

The high-powered Flight of the Valkyries seems like it’s going to be a heavy metal ballad but with a roar, the speed increases and you get that ‘racing to the battlefield’ feel. There’s some really growling vocals on this one. The Circle of Five is a meaty throwback with a killer guitar solo before Lady of the Woods takes a chilled out approach with eerie rhythm and ethereal vocals.

Awesome and varied stuff, Burning Witches never fail to excite, track by track. As the album moves into the latter part; Thrall and Nine Worlds bring even more energy and even more reasons to head-bang like lunatic. Two of the meanest sounding Burning Witches’ tracks ever, with the short ‘intermission’ of Omen in between.

For Eternity’s chuggy guitars and snarling vocals keeps things hot before Dragon’s Dream leans back into a thrashy and intense sound. It’s the last hurrah of this album (not including the bonus track) as Eternal Frost is an epic sounding guitar outro.

The bonus track is a banger though. Nothing to unusual for Burning Witches but that’s no bad thing. They deliver screeching riffs, grim heavy groove and a punchy singalong set of vocals. A cool bonus on an album that once again, highlights the quality that this band exudes.

Burning Witches – The Witch of the North Full Track Listing:

1. Winter’s Wrath
2. The Witch Of the North
3. Tainted Ritual
4. We Stand As One
5. Flight Of The Valkyries
6. The Circle Of Five
7. Lady Of The Woods
8. Thrall
9. Omen
10. Nine Worlds
11. For Eternity
12. Dragon’s Dream
13. Eternal Frost
14. Hall of the Mountain King (Bonus Track)

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