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Seven Witches > Amped > Reviews
Seven Witches - Amped

Better Than Their Older Work - 68%

Erin_Fox, October 28th, 2006

Balancing between tough-as-nails, conventional metal riffing with intensely melodic song structure, Seven Witches’ “Amped” gets the job done in terms of variety, performance and execution. With two new members in the fold, vocalist Alan Tecchio and bassist Kevin Bolembach, the band does indeed sound revitalized on tracks like “West Nile”, which boasts thrash underpinnings comparable to Annihilator as well as on the driving first single “Sunnydale High”, a cut which owes as much to the sleazy grooves of Ratt as it does to more traditional power metal outfits like Judas Priest.

Although it is a stretch to describe axe-slinger Jack Frost as being among the shredder elite, the guitarist does pull off enough acrobatic, blazing runs to keep things interesting and handles his instrument more capably than the majority of new-jack guitar god hopefuls in the scene today. In terms of creativity, Frost displays ample diversity to hold the attention of listeners. As he alternates between popular metal styles, the guitarist plays with a lot of spirit in addition to mechanical aptitude. Unlikely as it may be that he’ll become your favorite guitarist overnight, his performance on “Amped” makes the record well worth checking out for metal guitar devotees.

Alan Tecchio, meanwhile, seems right at home in this group. He’s able to open up his voice to do many different things. “Dishonor Killings” finds the singer taking on a vocal personality that’s reminiscent of Eric A.K., particularly in the instances of vocal doubling during the track. This form of vocal approach is pretty scarce in metal these days, so it makes the record stand out a bit. The addition of Tecchio and his Non-Fiction bandmate Bolembach has certainly strengthened this line-up immeasurably. “Be” brings further dynamic resilience to the album, a grim power ballad that is at once yearning and forlorn.

In closing things out with the dramatic “Widows And Orphans”, the band pays homage to Iron Maiden and Armored Saint. As dated as these references sound, they are nonetheless solid building blocks for what is one of the best tracks that we have heard from Seven Witches to date. Having an excellent cut such as this as the album’s closer succeeds in causing the listener to want to hear more from the band.

Depending on your viewpoint, Seven Witches’ cover of “Flesh For Fantasy” either enhances the cheese factor or is an unexpected twist on the popular Billy Idol original. It is during such moments that it becomes difficult to discern exactly what the group is getting at.

Certainly, some fans are going to mention that the approach that the band is taking on this record is nothing that has not been attempted in the past. Even so, Seven Witches are more convincing throughout the majority of the album than in the past.

What happened ? - 60%

Nightrunner, April 13th, 2006

OK, I’ve always seen Seven Witches as one of the better traditional metal bands nowadays, always released good metal albums containing some killer songs and some filler songs, and so they released “Amped”, and all I can say is…what the fuck went wrong with this one ?

As usual the band got a total different line-up since the last album, having Alan Tecchio on the vocals. He’s a cool vocalist, nothing wrong with him, but maybe not as much a screamer as James Rivera is, but still pretty good. Sadly enough neither the songs nor the production helps Alan too much. The sound of the album sounds like a shitty raw-pre production that has been stressed over totally and doesn’t feel “complete”. And the songs, Frost has written some cool riffs, verses, choruses, but most of the songs doesn’t get together in the end and they just feel like repetitions in the end, and after a while it just feels kind of boring, except some songs. “Sunnydale High”, for example, which I really like from start until end with it’s cool riffs and killer verses, one of the better solos too.“West Nile” has some cool verses and chorus. “Dishonor Killings” is a OK song, pretty heavy, but gets boring after some listens. We have “GP Fix”, which has killer verses and solo, but nothing else. And I think the lyrics are stupid and bad as hell. Maybe because I hate motor-related stuff….and last we have “Fame Gets You Off” which starts calm and then breaks into a killing riffy part and great verses, but everything else is lame. And the rest of the song is just plain and complete garbage and is all what I explained earlier, doesn’t work as whole songs and just feels repetitive and boring .

So, Seven Witches has taken a pretty big down-step from earlier albums. Both musicwise and lyrical. To the next album they should maybe think about doing a better production and making songs the way they’re good at, plain and traditional heavy metal. I can sadly not recommend this album, maybe just two other recommendations: 1) You can listen to “West Nile” and “Sunnydale High” since they’re good song and: 2) Get yourself some of their earlier albums, “Passage to the Other Side” being the best one, in my opinion.

Straight Out Of Hades - 74%

MettleAngel, March 31st, 2006

I have always been a dedicated fan of this band even if they do rotate vocalists on every other CD. Personally, I think the "Mental Messiah" James Rivera was their best vocalist choice to date; especially since Bobby Lucas truly reverberates the "Metallic Madness" of Overlorde, and the "Metal Tyrant" Wade Black is bonded to Leash Law. When I heard that Alan Tecchio had joined the ranks, I became enthusiastically amped; since he is one of my favorites and I worship Hades. Alan has always sounded majestic in everything he has performed as a guest vocalist from Watchtower 'Control and resistance' to Power 'Justice of fire'. So I was quite confident that he would promote Seven Witches to the level they deserve in America.

Before I distribute the accolades, though; I have to honestly proclaim that this CD is not exactly what I expected. Alan still sounds as awesome as he ever has, but sadly Jack Frost has recorded a really pallid and mediocre CD. The songs have lost their high intensity and wattage which were ever prevalent in the last few releases. Lyrically, the subject matter is slightly thought-provoking, even if it never serves to quite echo the metallic vibe. Those words which are penned by Alan revert to his thematic approach commonly explored with the last Hades CD 'Dam nation'. The context for some tracks is stimulating, yet seldom suggests to the listener that Alan is quite educated and that he himself writes for 'Steppin' out', a popular New York magazine. He has his own column where he critiques the various bars which he frequents, and his love for motorcycles and automobiles.

Alan also guests as vocalist with several other artists on Jack Frost's 'Out in the cold'. Even though there are several covers on this CD, the other songs on this solo effort are better constructed than those which were chosen for 'Amped'. This makes me wonder why those songs were not added to this CD which clocks in at just over 40 minutes. Given the fact that Jack Frost has released a great deal of music in a relatively short amount of time; I feel that his ample imagination has clearly short-circuited.

The opening track "West nile" has the over all witchy vibe with lyrics focusing on the deadly disease, and some punishing riffs; but give the precedent for such past metal openers on the last few CDs, this track just does not initiate the listener into the coven. Next up is "Sunnydale high" with its straightforward metal approach and classic Seven Witches stylistic propensity. Lyrically, Alan is in full form graphically telling the story of today's mispent youth with a Columbine tactic; where truth is stranger than fiction. Teen romance fiction this clearly is not! The guitars are shredding and Alan's vocals resonate in the pure Hades fashion. Next up is "Dishonor killing", which again would fit on any Hades CD from the last decade. The piercing yet plodding bassline and opening riff suggest that this will be a real crusher; but it isn't. Instead, it's a mid-paced tribal pummel with a sound similar (both musically and lyrically) to Alan's other band Non-fiction. Non-fiction never matched the musical intensity of Hades; but they still had Dan Lorenzo on guitars and Alan on vocals, so I listened to them; even if I never purchased many of their CDs.

"Moto GP" does pick up the pace with slightly more shredding while Alan celebrates one of the many hobbies of his life: racing, whether it be motorcycles or cars, Alan is transfixed by high speed endurance. This song is semi-autobiographical and the energy overall places the listener on the motorway as Jack imitates the sound of cars racing by with his guitar harmonics. Sadly, "BE" is just another benign ballad; perhaps written because Jack likes to impress b-cup chicks, or perchance Alan is sincerely striving to "be all he can be". Believe me, I'm not here to berate the band or the be all - end all theme of this song; but overall this effort is bereft of any metal significance. Then there is "Fame gets you off, which again reminds me how sleazy Jack can be. I've seen him in interviews where he talks more about nailing groupees, than he does about artisitic inspiration. After seeing him on the Metalium DVD, I almost gave up on listening to future CDs by him. I'm so greatful that I did not let his sybaritic convivialities cloud my judgement for what turned out to be quite an argosy of quality metal. I think Alan is trying to make a point in this song about egos and zealots, thus implying political overtones and his feelings on our involvement in costly wars. I just wish they could have chose a better song title.
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