Reviews: Burning Witches, Sadistik Forest, Cirith Ungol, Alastor (Reviews By Simon Black, Paul Scoble, Paul Hutchings & Matt Bladen)

Burning Witches - The Witch Of The North (Nuclear Blast) [Simon Black]

The Swiss Heavy/Power Metallers are back with the fourth full length album, and things are a little different this time around. Having a new voice and guitarist to work into the mix is always going to influence the direction your sound travels in, but the whole tone of this album is distinctly more aggressive than on previous albums. Whereas the Power element was more predominant in the past, I would say this is a more all-round Metal with a healthy dose of Thrash album and vocally Laura Guldemond‘s voice is way more Halford in full scream mode than the more clean and wholesome sound many Power Metal bands opt for. 

In fact if I did not know where they came from, I would have assumed they were from the USA, whose variant of Power Metal tends to be harder hitting and less about singalong melodies to raise a drinking horn to. This direction of travel is somewhat reinforced by the addition of a bonus cover of Hall Of The Mountain King by Savatage, depending on which version you are listening to. To be honest it doesn’t matter, as their own material sounds way better.

Guldemond‘s voice is very much at the centre of things and she is more than capable of throwing in some full-on growls alongside the screams, creating a very powerful effect. Musically these ladies aren’t messing about either despite the dominant presence of a clearly formidable frontwoman, with some incredibly tight and well executed playing going on here, largely at fast and blistering tempo. For an album that doesn’t hang about in terms of pace, it is remarkably lengthy with most of the fourteen tracks coming in above the five minute mark (plus a couple of instrumental interludes) and an hour’s run time in total.

It’s a thematic rather than a story arc based concept exploring (surprise, surprise) witches and consequently the songs stand up well individually. I can’t fault the production either, as each instrument is clearly balanced in the mix, whilst still having a strong vocal presence front and centre. The challenge with the album is that apart from that cover version, the furious up-tempo pace and delivery becomes a little unrelenting and one finds oneself wishing for a bit more change of pace. Nonetheless this incarnation of Burning Witches exudes confidence and formidable playing, and the more in your face sound is a definite improvement. 8/10

Sadistik Forest - Obscure Old Remains (Transcending Obscurity Records) [Paul Scoble]

Finish four piece Sadistik Forest have been battering eardrums since 2007. In that time the band have released 3 albums; a self titled debut in 2010, Death, Doom, Radiation in 2012, and 2018’s Morbid Majesties. Obscure Old Remains is the bands first EP. The EP features four pieces of Old School Death Metal which sounds fairly Swedish in style. The EP opens with Mandragore, which is fast OSDM, that is somewhat reminiscent of Dismember and has some rhythmic elements that feel quite Grindcore-ish. Next track, Barbarian is a mix of mid-paced parts that, despite the slower speed, feel driving and purposeful, and fast and flowing riffing that reminds me a little of Welsh Death Metal Legends Desecration. After Barbarian comes Nihil, which has a soft and melodic opening, before heading into a very heavy and driving section. 

After this we get some more fast Old School riffs that again have a slight grind feel to them, and are savagely fast. The track ends with another soft and melodic section. The EP comes to an end with the track Waters Black which opens with a slow and nasty section that is reminiscent of Bolt Thrower, maybe with a little bit of Autopsy’s nasty thrown in for good measure, before going into a faster part that is aggressive and feels relentless. The song moves between these two styles until a slow and putrid ending. Obscure Old Forest is a very good EP, it’s well written and played, and whether it’s a fast section or a slow one, it always feels packed with energy and it never feels like you are far from some rippingly fast riff, blast beat or solo. Fantastically good fun! 7/10

Cirith Ungol - Half Past Human (Metal Blade Records) [Paul Hutchings]

It’s a cruel world. Having released their masterful Forever Black last year, their first for 29 years, 2020 should have been triumphant for Ventura’s Cirith Ungol. The band were due to return to Keep It True festival in Germany for a gargantuan launch party. Instead, the band hunkered down at HQ in California and let the worldwide shit storm pass by. But they didn’t rest on the glow of Forever Black. They have dug deep into the archive archives and now provide The Legion with more material which will be consumed with as much joy as that fifth album. Half Past Human is four songs exhumed from their past, as Cirith Ungol dug deep into their archival crypts, summoning long dead forces to return. Four tracks have been reimagined, and they are all absolute bangers. Route 666 kicks things off, a muscular five-minute song that opens with Rob Garven’s thumping drumming, a sumptuous riff and then Tim Baker’s unique and magical vocals casting a spell as he tells the story. 

There is some glorious guitar work as the song progresses in classic Cirith Ungol style. Ample opportunity to bang that head as the old school sound blends with a fresh, contemporary approach. Shelob’s Lair follows in similar thunderous vein, the thick riffs of Greg Lindstrom and Jim Barraza carving out another classic Lord Of The Rings inspired track from way back. Underpinning everything, Jarvis Leatherby’s gut rumbling bass powers along, keeping things steady. The shortest track here is Brutish Man Child, previously released on a retro flexi disc with Decibel magazine last year. It’s a typical jagged Cirith Ungol song, awkward time signatures breaking down into an almost jazz freestyle instrumental section before returning to the main body of the track. 

That leaves us with the epic title track. Half Past Human is a smouldering, meandering and majestic song. Over seven minutes in length, it builds slowly, leading to a huge old school guitar solo, supported by the massive drumming of Garven’s and Leatherby’s bass lines which chug alongside. Baker remains the star, his voice as impressive as those early vocals in the early 1980s. As the song reaches its crescendo the tempo increases before arriving at a magnificent finish. If you wanted a reminder that Cirith Ungol’s return last year was anything less than triumphant, then this is it. With a good wind, 2022 will at last see the band play that headline set at Keep it True. We can but hope. 9/10

Alastor - Onwards & Downwards (RidingEasy Records) [Matt Bladen]

Few bands do reflective, dark occult stoner doom than the Swedes and Alastor have encapsulated that in their latest release, cheerily title Onwards & Downwards. Now yes if you did only listen to the acoustic interlude Kassettband, which sounds like it was bootlegged of someones phone to an overactive metronome, then you may say that Alastor are nothing to write home about, but wait for the title track to unleash it's fuzzy, Sabbath worship and then you'll understand Alastor completely. Heavily distorted and engorged in occult-horror Onwards & Downwards is much more dense audio experience than any of their predecessors, encouraged by their new drummer, it feels as though the corpse has been reanimated and just wants to smoke a bong and crank out some riffs. 

Riffs is what you get, the horror film organs fill the spaces of quiet with an eerie unease as the cascade of grinding guitar sounds crash around you, Hampus Sandell and Johan Björmander the axe abusers, working against the Sabbath/Electric Wizard/Windhand blueprint. The thunderous 6, full band tracks here driven at building crushing speed by Robin Arnryd's bass and Jim Nordström drumwork, but nothing ever seems too D.I.Y about the record (except Kassettband) the audio has been tightened up from the last release, not making it too commercial but allowing a bit more maturity to creep in. Don't recoil though Onwards & Down isn't AOR there's plenty of dirty doom riffage to rattle about in your skull, just listen to the first two songs for that. Onwards & Downwards maybe the title but this points at an upward trajectory for Alastor. 8/10