Years of the Witch turned out to be a great way to be introduced to the band. All that is required to enjoy Seven Witches and their music is a love for pure heavy metal. The 75 minute concert more than delivers the goods.
I was surprised to find that they have been around for less than ten years, which is a good thing. It is always great to find a band turning out quality heavy metal that hasn't been corrupted by the worlds of nu metal, emo, screamo, hardcore, and whatever else you can think of. While I do enjoy parts of those other genre's, there is so little real metal around, that I have been able to find, that when you hear a group like Seven Witches, it is a breath of fresh air.
The band takes the stage to the cheers of the crowd and proceed to deliver power metal in a pure form. No rapping or screaming here, just a dose of melodic power metal, delivered by a group of musicians who know how to handle their instruments. From the opening of "Dance with the Dead" to the anthemic "Metal Tyrant" through "Camelot" and the show closer "Mental Messiah," there is a lot to like here.
Jack Frost is a very impressive guitar player, who reminds me a bit of Savatage's Chris Caffrey. His guitar is the backbone of Seven Witches, upon which the rest is hung. From the heavy riffs to the speedy solos, he has the chops on which to build the metal. The other high point is vocalist James Rivera, with his Bruce Dickinson crossed with Rob Halford style voice, he adds to that pure power metal sound. Unfortunately, after watching the disk I have found that Rivera has joined the list of former Seven Witches singers.
Track listing:
1) Open
2) Dance With the Dead
3) Apocalyptic Dreams
4) Metal Tyrant
5) The Answer
6) Johnny
7) Jam Session
8) Can''t Find My Way
9) Incubus
10) Metal Asylum
11) Warmth of Winter
12) Camelot
13) Natures Wrath
14) Cries of the Living
15) Passage to the Other Side
16) Mental Messiah
This DVD is much more than just a concert, there is much more to see.
First there are three interview segments, totalling nearly an hour with founder, and only remaining original member, Jack Frost. The first interview is Frost telling of the history of Seven Witches, from the formation at the end of his prior band, Frost Bite, and his fateful meeting with singer Bobby Lucas. It is a nice success story of how hard work pays off when they get signed and are able to release their music to the world. The next segment has him being interviewed on many aspects of the bands sound, and Frost's experiences. The final interview gets into the studio work and the mixing of the raw recordings into the finished product.
There is a music video of sorts for the band's anthem, "Camelot." It compiles concert footage all of the bands singers performing the song. Pretty clever if you ask me, and I know, you didn't.
Finally, there is an archive of live video performance, in raw, unpolished form, covering the band's entire career. There is over a half hour of live music from all three of their singers (to that point). The footage further shows them to be an impressive live metal act. Unfortunately, there is no track listing or any real chapter breaks for this section.
Bottomline. This is a must for fans, and for anyone who loves metal. This is a band that has gained a new fan in me, and I will be sure to pick up their CDs, until then, this will tide me over. An impressive, powerful performance from a band that loves the music.
Recommended.
Before you even put the CD in and press play, you should be able to get a good idea of what you are in for. If the album title doesn't clue you in, perhaps song titles like "Morgue Than Words," "My Home Sweet Homicide," and "Buried with Children" should be able to tip you off. The album is laced with halloween inspired humor, reminiscent of The Misfits' Famous Monsters album.
OK, follow me for a minute. Jason Ritter is Ethan, an overly nice guy who dotes on his fiancee without end. In order to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their meeting in the third grade, he starts calling everyone from their class to throw a big reunion party. His cold calling these people, who are now all strangers, does not hold much promise. However, he does get a few to show up, a disparate bunch if there ever was.
Jericho takes the premise that America has been attacked with nuclear weapons, and this is what happens in the small town of Jericho. It is not the most original concept, there have been films that have dealt with nuclear strikes on the US, how will this one stand out? Well, that has yet to be seen, but the pilot gets us off to a good start.
The world is changing in ways that Katagiri and those like him are being left behind. While he struggles to deal with his bachelor life, and his feelings for Kie, he and his fellow samurai are being forced to switch from the sword to the weapons of the West. A teacher from one of the larger towns has come to instruct them in the ways of the gun, and a new way of running. This leads to some rather humorous sequences.
The Hidden Blade is a film that moves at a methodical pace. Everything is calculated, every movecarefully considered. This helps to give the film a beauty, a tapestry through which the stories weave, with well developed surrounding characters and some gorgeous cinematography. The pacing also leads to some negatives, as I struggled to pick up the story early on. It takes its time to set up the period and everything around our lead character before the story threads take complete hold.
The film centers on Louis Simo (Adrien Brody), a private investigator who is a bit down on his luck, working out of a motel room as he tries to make ends meet. While looking for scrap work from his former partner, he comes into contact with George Reeves' mother. She believes that her son's death may have actually been a murder, there is no reason why he would have shot himself.
Hollywoodland is meticulously paced, reminscent of the films of the era being portrayed. The acting is first rate, from Ben Affleck, in one of his better performances, to Adrien Brody who embodies that low rent detective persona perfectly, complete with his flaws. Then we have Diane Lane who brings a fire to Toni Mannix, she does a wonderful job at bringing the open relationship and how she really feels about George to the fore, a woman in love, but also a woman enjoys having somebody under her thumb.
The Covenant opens with an explanation that doesn't explain anything. I knew this was a bad sign. When a movie has a text opening that speaks of ancient power of unknown origins, you must have a clue that you are about to witness a bad movie. I mean, come on, make something up, you did for the rest of the movie, please feel free to fill in the holes, not dig them.
The Covenant is filled with silly posturing and a faux goth edge. The approach to the material, and the way it plays out would have been much better suited to a television series. For as much information that is shared, it would have made a fine pilot. There is enough potential in this to last a few seasons, instead we get a mashed up film plot that goes nowhere.
On occasion bits of a story will begin to appear, but they are abandoned at the earliest moment, in favor of the aforementioned brooding. Sure, the teens in the audience will have plenty to look at while not being challenged, so in that respect it is successful.
The film begins with Eisenheim the Illusionist, played by Edward Norton, onstage in front of an audience. He begins his act, which features a shimmering apparition appearing next to him, but before the image can become clear, he is arrested by Chief Inspector Uhl (Paul Giamatti). We then jump into flashback mode.
What makes this a truly frustrating experience are the things that they got right. The cinematography looks beautiful, there is a sort of magic to the look and feel of the film, much credit to Dick Pope's work. Also, the music is also very good, again, credit to Philip Glass.