Where Witches Burnt

When I listened for the first time to the … album of this Swiss band, my first thought was that this is a typical Black Metal release with too much keyboard in the mixing.

Things were getting worst when I’ve take a look in the booklet, 5 painted evil-looking guys and a girl, I’ve read the lyrics and nothing just the archetypal evil-glorifying clichés were all I’ve found. Here are some excerpts:” Father Satan let us feel your power”, “What do I need my soul for, I give it to Satan”. Reading the lyrics you should think Christianity is following you on every corner, I guess these days it’s not that easy being a Satanist…

Despite all the unenthusiastic aspects, the music is much better than the lyrics and the booklet. The musicians are good and skilled, the sound is pretty OK, almost too much clean. The guitarlines are more or less complex, dark but still melodic, creating a mysterious mood in the listener. The keyboard melodies are dark too, but they could be mixed more backwards, it would be more subtle and effective that way. After a few tracks the structure of the songs becomes predictable, nothing particularly to surprise you, but with all that, the riffs and harmonies are really good, and after more listening you can memorize them, which is a laudable. Sometimes reminiscent of old Emperor and old Satyricon because of the dark and fast guitarwork, other times reminding of more melodic BM, like early COF or D. Borgir. Something between.