Band:	Icarus Witch
Album:	Roses On White Lace
Style:	Heavy metal
Release date:	2005
A review by:	Jeff

01. Roses On White Lace [Alice Cooper cover]
02. Curse Of The Ice Maiden
03. Halycon
04. Winds Of Atlantis
05. Dragon Ryder

Icarus Witch is a new combo from the USA. This band chose to play a pure Heavy Metal which definitely sounds "US", understand that we can't compare their music to the "NWOBHM" bands like Iron Maiden or some others Power Metal band from Europe but at the opposite that's easy to see some similitude with the powerful Iced Earth or Jag Panzer. Also ,we are not really far away of Thrash Metal and this excellent mix between those two different styles is refreshing really.

The first release of the band is an EP of only 17 mins, with three original songs and a cover of Alice Cooper "Roses On White Lace". That's not really hard when you listen to this album to see that the potentiality of the band is enormous. I discovered them some weeks before (Thx to Mr Rico ) and after this really short lap of time I'm already sure of one thing, we are in front of a newcomer which will do something in the Metal scene, believe me.

"Roses On White Lace" is really catchy, all the songs are really well done and well written. This band is good, the musical level of the four musicians is impressive, you will be able to find some great guitars solos, the lines of the Drums and Bass-Guitar are very clean and the high voice of Matthew Bizilia (which remember me Dave Mustaine) is, in its own style, very good and perfect for such Heavy Metal. The great heavy riffs, the thundering tempos of the music give me a nice feeling I can't believe that this band will never become a leader of the US Heavy Metal scene, because only some few bands can produce this kind of first release.

Also, and that's the good point with Icarus Witch, the music of the EP is not really linear and sometime I think that we are not so far away of Thrash Metal. One more time, I will take as an example, Megadeth, but I think that even if Icarus Witch plays Heavy instead Thrash, for sure we have some similitude between the two combos.

That's not really surprising for a band that comes from the USA, but the production is damn good, the sound is perfect and gives me some great hopes for their upcoming album. The Cover as you can see is also really beautiful, the band did a good choice, with the famous art-designer Mattias Noren and his Prog-Art studios from Sweden. In fact for an EP, all is perfect, my only regret will come maybe from the lyrics. All is ok, but maybe that it can be a bit "Heavy Metal" cliché sometime, like on "Dragon Rider". That's not bad at all, just not really new you see what I mean. But whatever, that's just a little reproach which will be swept up quickly by the numerous good points of this album.

With Icarus Witch my friends, we have the luck to see that the old good Heavy Metal from the USA is always alive. This first EP, is a great surprise and now I'm only waiting their first official full-length album. Really have a look on this album you will love it I'm ready to bet a lot? A great first EP, for a damn promising band, we will have to count on Icarus Witch in a very near future.