Band:	Burning Witches
Album:	The Dark Tower
Style:	Heavy metal, Power metal
Release date:	May 2023

Disc I
01. Rise Of Darkness
02. Unleash The Beast
03. Renegade
04. Evil Witch
05. World On Fire
06. Tomorrow
07. House Of Blood
08. The Dark Tower
09. Heart Of Ice
10. Arrow Of Time
11. Doomed To Die
12. Into The Unknown
13. The Lost Souls

Disc II [Bonus CD]
01. Shot In The Dark [Ozzy Osbourne cover]
02. I Wanna Be Somebody [W.A.S.P. cover]

If your looking for some tasty riffing to headbang yourself senseless too, then look no further. Here's a splash of 80s retro heavy metal, with a dabble of power metal brought to you by five Burning Witches from The Dark Tower.

Burning Witches are a Swiss heavy metal group which formed back in 2015 (consisting of a full female line-up, in case you didn't know). In essence, they're a band looking to bring back the glamorous old-school energy associated with 80s heavy metal, presenting a range of influences from Judas Priest to W.A.S.P.. Over the course of their previous releases, they've managed to cement their very own style and sound into place, by incorporating influences of European power metal and theatrical songwriting (perhaps King Diamond-inspired) into their style.

Here we have the band's fifth release, The Dark Tower. This is an album which runs at just over an hour in length, where these five Burning Witches bring you thirteen fist-raising, adrenaline-pumping, neck-breaking tracks of pure heavy metal. Right from the offset, we are introduced with the short, hauntingly cinematic intro, “Rise Of Darkness”. This is mostly acoustic-based, providing a soft ritualistic setting that teases us in gently before the first main track, “Unleash The Beast”, is unleashed upon us.

So, back to their old ways, “Unleash The Beast” brings catchy melodious riffing, thunderous rhythmic drumming and hair-raising, soaring vocals into play, with a fist-pumping, catchy chorus, made especially for a live audience arena. The album is well and truly off to a flying start. However, this is only the beginning. The album unsurprisingly continues down this path, featuring one catchy track after another, providing highly memorable riffs, dual guitar solos, and plenty of crowd pleasing choruses throughout. Yes, you can say this is a style that's all been done before, and repeated so often by many bands today, but Burning Witches is one of the few bands around that possess a certain charisma and ambition. You can really tell they enjoy doing what they do, and what they do best is please the audience and listeners.

One thing I admire about this band is their ambition. Instead of putting out a half hour, half-hearted record, with repetitive riff structures, and simple rhythm patterns, they opted to go all out. Here you'll struggle to find half-baked fillers, despite there being numerous tracks; some tracks are undoubtedly better than others, but there's not a track here I find myself feeling the urge to skip. Each track contains enough catchy riff melodies to keep you constantly hooked without running their course. Burning Witches also show us they aren't just about the speed and heaviness, as they even have a ballad in their midst, “Tomorrow”. This track is strategically placed as a midway breaking point on the album, which acts as a vital breather. If not for this break, I believe the album would have run the risk of becoming stale due to the length.

Admittedly, the second half of the album is where Burning Witches really come into their own, and features some of the band's finest work to date, in particular the title track. With its exceptional riff work and striking sing-along chorus, “The Dark Tower” is among some of the band's catchiest songwriting, but that's not to take anything away from the first half of the album by any means.

Overall, The Dark Tower is shrouded in greatness, I will even go as far to say that this is the best Burning Witches release yet. What this band lacks in originality, they certainly make up for in passion and excitement.