Seven Witches – Rebirth (FrostByte Media)
Sunday, 21st July 2013
Guitarist Jack Frost has traveled a lot in his pursuit for the art of metal through the years. Recording and touring opportunities that include Savatage, Metallium, Lizzy Borden, the Bronx Casket Co. and a couple of solo albums – that’s the short list. Yet, he’s never forsaken the heavy, traditional power metal leanings of Seven Witches, despite the changing musical tides and fluctuating membership. With more lineup changes in tow, Frost and co. return with the appropriately-titled Rebirth.
Seven Witches anno 2013 includes ex-Type O Negative drummer Johnny Kelly and relative unknowns in bassist Ronnie Parkes and vocalist Anthony Cross, which makes Rebirth that much more fitting for the quartet. Cross has a bluesy oriented metal voice, in line with say Ray Gillen or John Bush in comparison to the previous siren highs of say, James Rivera or Alan Tecchio on previous Seven Witches albums. As such, expect songs like “Man in the Mirror (Enemy Within)” and “Stand or Fall” to match that rawer, more down tuned traditional metal sound to match the vocal presentation.
Nine songs feature Cross on vocals, as the final track “Power to the People” is more of a dynamic track that fits the multi-octave range of Tecchio, delivering some chilling melodies in the chorus and forceful highs throughout. Frost as a guitarist always balances out the shred factor with more of a complementary emotional texture to his soloing- and the riffing within cuts like the anthem “Claustrophobic (No Way Out)” and the rhythmically led title track should get many heads bobbing, hands clapping and screams in favor of his metal ways.
Seven Witches has a roller coaster discography. The ups in their debut Second War in Heaven and Passage to the Other Side, the downs for Amped and Xiled to Infinity and One, but Rebirth sees them on the upswing and heading in the right direction overall.
