Artist: Witchunter
Title: Crystal Demons
Type: Album
Label: High Roller Records

Italian Traditional/NWOBHM followers Witchunter may take their cue from some of the British bands, known for legendary status outside of their native country, but these folks appreciate their own countries metal history, slaying traditional metal sounds like the way Sabotage used too in small places. With this label (HHR) behind them, obviously, this album has been given the authentic metal honour of being released on vinyl, but does the music stack up to justify this hallowed format?

The package is buried in the old country of England, lyrics are about the horned one (nothing, as explained by the band, to do with Italy’s large Catholicism following by coincidence) and playing covers of Tygers of the Pan Tang (‘Hellbound’). Their own tracks such as ‘Princess of Hell’ and the mini-epic ‘The Breath of Satan’ develop the NWOBHM sound and introduce Euro-styling into the arrangements, that galloping in the rhythms. The only critic of this release is the “nasal” vocal delivery in the lower register, but then again, you cannot have everything. This is a common anomaly I find with the newer bands producing this style. Delivering their message in riffs, solos and Satan is a tried and tested formula, and it does work well for Witchunter. If you cannot feel any emotion from the opening full track ‘Crystal Demon’, power screams and all, then you’re not feeling alive at all, so you need to get a beer and crank it up louder! Louder is what ‘Ready Tonight’ deserves, it is heavy metal alright, when it speeds up to the Motorhead-style precursor to the solo, and then the actual guitar solo, these warriors of metal come into their own with some of the vocal melodies reminding me of Swedes Heavy Load. Look out for their German tour dates in April, it’s a shame that, like many other cool traditional metal bands, they won’t come to England, but you can always hope.

This is an authentic metal release, whether you will be talking about these guys in a bar for years to come is another matter altogether, but ‘Crystal Demons’ does fly the flag for traditional NWOBHM inspired metal like any of their counterparts in Europe at this present time.

http://www.myspace.com/witchuntermetal
http://www.hrrecords.de/high_roller/start.html