ALBUM REVIEW: Inquisition – Burning Witches
The trad metal revival is showing no signs of slowing down, with metal’s oldest sub-genre still going toe to toe more than a half a century after its inception. For a decade now, Swiss collective BURNING WITCHES have been proudly flying the flag as defenders of the faith. Straddling between the bombastic flair of power metal with trad metal sensibility, the coven have been largely consistent in their ten year run. Now comes Inquisition, arriving right on schedule, two years since 2023’s The Dark Tower.
Given their style and routine turnaround of new material, there’s no grand departure from the blueprint here; this is BURNING WITCHES doing what BURNING WITCHES do; thunderous heavy metal. Good thing they’re pretty damn good at it then. Proper album opener Soul Eater – following customary intro Sanguini Hominum – is a proper ripper of a track, demonstrating thundering percussion, dizzying solos and an electrifying vocal performance from Laura Guldemond, who displays a phenomenal vocal performance across the breadth of the record’s 12 song run.
When lightning strikes, the result is electrifying and for BURNING WITCHES, they successfully conjure these moments at various points throughout Inquisition‘s runtime. Shame features a barn-storming chorus that begs for heads to bang whereas the duelling relationship between guitarists Romana Kalkhul and Courtney Cox is an utter joy to experience. The killer dynamism shown in In The Eye Of The Storm – a track that boasts one of the best solos on the record – is a perfect example of the stellar interplay between the two and it’s a passage of play that gets better on every listen.
What’s clear throughout Inquisition‘s runtime is a band that runs akin to a well-oiled machine. And that’s what you’d expect with a band a decade of experience behind them. So, what we are given with Inquisition is a tight and impressive record, but one that sticks firmly to the band’s established sound, making it predictable and blunting its impact. The Spell Of The Skull‘s mid tempo slog buckles early momentum gained from Soul Eater and Shame and is largely forgetful, especially since the title track – and album highlight – follows, and the album’s second half is more a cruise to the finish line than a triumphant finish. Tracks like Mirror, Mirror (no, its not a BLIND GUARDIAN cover), In The Eye Of The Storm and In For The Kill are all fine heavy metal cuts by their own right, but as a collective whole, it lacks that knock-out punch to truly leave a lasting impact.
Although there is nothing revolutionary about Inquisition, what this album is a solid, albeit predictable, heavy metal record crafted by a band who clearly are experts at their craft. BURNING WITCHES have built their name on vintage heavy metal flare, backed by modern production to deliver additional weight. Inquisition speaks to that. It’s a record that shows a band with plenty of gas still left in the tank and has a number of moments where it truly delivers. Yes, it sticks firmly to its lane, cementing its place as nothing extraordinary, but it has enough pull and charm to entice metal fans aplenty.
Rating: 7/10
Inquisition is out now via Napalm Records.
Like BURNING WITCHES on Facebook.
