Burning Witches: Take a Dance With The Devil!
In the five years since their formation, Swiss quintet BURNING WITCHES have gone from strength to strength. 2018’s Hexenhamer oozed sheer class and the heavy metal spirit of decades gone by, indicating that the band have the potential to become a vital cog in the traditional metal revival movement. Two years later and the band’s third album, Dance With The Devil, is here and is yet another bout of trad-metal worship. For drummer Lala Frischknecht, she tells Distorted Sound that this love for 80s metal lies at the core of the BURNING WITCHES DNA and that without it, metal would never have become the multi-faceted beast it is today.
“Some people are saying that when they listen to Dance With The Devil, they feel that they’re back in their teenage days in the 80s!” Lala excitably tells us. “You hear that music before and now you’re playing it. And it’s just like you’re back in the 80s. You feel like you were also there and it feels great to be there, even if you were not there before because we’re very young people and we didn’t see it. That’s the era where heavy metal grew and the people there in the 80s were so lucky to see how this genre grew, how this genre went from there to be speed metal, to be thrash metal and so on. Big respect to heavy metal because if it’s not for them, we don’t have these things. We cannot listen to thrash metal, speed metal or death metal or whatever! They contributed a lot in the music scene.”
It’s clear from the tone of Lala‘s voice and on a greater level, the sound of BURNING WITCHES that the band have built themselves around a shared adoration and respect for the glory days of metal’s past. But, whilst this love is clearly incredibly important for the band, BURNING WITCHES aren’t just looking to pay tribute to the heroes of yesterday, no, they are forging their own path in the modern age rather than just basking in past tales. This remains at the forefront of Lala‘s mind as she explains how above anything else, herself and BURNING WITCHES just want to continue what they are doing for as long as physically possible. “We just want to continue playing and making great music and doing the good things that we started. For us, it doesn’t matter if we play on small stages or big stages. The priceless thing to us is when we see the the fans smiling, singing to our songs, and that is so amazing for us even no matter how tired we are playing, no matter how sweaty we are, and you see those faces. It’s nice and we will just continue the good things we do because we enjoy what we’re doing and we love what we’re doing. We love to play heavy metal.”
Indeed, having this passion burning will bring good fortunes moving forward, but more importantly, the band have an absolutely astonishing new album to carry their name to new audiences. Dance With The Devil, the band’s third full-length offering, is an absolute romp with devilishly fun riffs and an incendiary vocal performance from new vocalist Laura Guldemond. Not only did the band overcome the hurdle of allowing a new member to settle into the camp, but they also smashed through the hurdle of the ‘tricky third album’. Lala is just ecstatic when talking about her new witch and that her addition has proved to be nothing short of a blessing. “We have our new witch Laura! Laura‘s voice has this aggressiveness and different range of voice and really catchy choruses. She said she is focused on it. She’s crazy about singing. I think it’s so perfect because her vocal range is kinda like aggressive and melodic and it really fits in the band. So we’re really fortunate having her and she’s an amazing singer. We’re very lucky!”
It may be luck or good fortune, but with the addition of Guldemond, you get the feeling that BURNING WITCHES are on the cusp of exploding into the big leagues. After making a very strong impression on last summer’s festival circuit, (three of the songs from their set at Wacken 2019 made the cut on last year’s Wings of Steel EP to give fans an appetite to Guldemond‘s ability) it seems that the only direction for BURNING WITCHES is upwards. It’s a story of ascendancy and one in which the band have capitalised on every opportunity, rocketing up the ranks in just a mere five years. As we close our conversation with Lala, she admits time is moving so fast and she is gleefully optimistic for what comes next.
“At first we just wanted to play heavy metal. We recorded the demo and later on, we self-produced the first album. And then things happened so fast. It’s just like riding in the fast train and then, we ended up playing Wacken! We cannot ask for more! Even after that first album, Nuclear Blast ask us to sign for the record label and it’s a big bonus for us. Now it’s the third album and it is unbelievable! Time goes so fast!”
It’s been two years since Hexenhammer, so how has the band grown and developed in those two years?
Lala: We we developed a lot. And I think only not only as a band also as musicians, but a lot of things have happened in the band. For example, our ex singer left the band, but it’s okay. We respect her decision. We can not do anything about that, it’s a free world. So it’s okay. And then we found our new Witch Laura. And I think it’s so perfect because her vocal range is kinda like aggressive and melodic and it really fits in the band. So we’re really fortunate having her and she’s an amazing singer. We’re very lucky!
I was going to talk about Laura coming into the band because I believe she came in just before you had the run with all the summer festivals, so it was kind of a initiation of trial by fire really wasn’t it?
Lala: When we met her two weeks before Sweden Rock, and then we tried some old songs and it fitted very well and at that time we already had material for Wings of Steel. And she tried it and it went perfectly, that’s the reason that we ended up recording it in the studio so that the the fans will get to think about how BURNING WITCHES sound like with Laura. So Wings of Steel, as you can hear, it’s just full of aggressiveness energy speed, all are there! Great chorus, it’s so catchy and then she really fits in the bad that she said that she’s in the band just in that time because Sweden Rock and she said “let’s play!” We had a great time on the stage and the good thing is the old fans. I mean, our fans of BURNING WITCHES welcomed her, they gave her a warm welcome. It’s so perfect and we’re so happy that the fans accepted her as our new singer and she’s she’s doing an amazing job!
Given that you’ve achieved so much already, you’ve played Wacken and you have played these massive stages. What your ambitions now moving forward, do you want to hit even bigger stages and get bigger tours?
Lala: We just want to continue playing and making great music and doing the good things that we started. Of course we want to play on the big stages. It’s a great experience. And it’s also a nice tool to show the people what you can do on the stage and big stages have big grounds right? For us, it doesn’t matter if we play on small stages or big stages. The priceless thing to us is when we see the the fans smiling, singing to our songs, and that is so amazing for us even no matter how tired we are playing, no matter how sweaty we are, and you see those faces. It’s nice and we will just continue the good things we do because we enjoy what we’re doing and we love what we’re doing. We love to play heavy metal. I mean, this thing’s happening to us. We didn’t expect that. At first we just wanted to play heavy metal. We recorded the demo and later on, we self-produced the first album. And then things happened so fast. It’s just like riding in the fast train and that at the end, we end up playing in Wacken! We cannot ask for more. We just continue.
In an age where there are so many different styles and sub genres within heavy music, how important was it for you to really capture this spirit of the 80s with BURNING WITCHES?
Lala: It’s so nice that you hear that. You hear that music before and now you’re playing it! And it’s just like you’re back in the 80s. You feel like you were also there and it feels great to be there, even if you were not there because we’re very young people and we didn’t actually see it. That’s the era where heavy metal grew and the people there in the 80s were so lucky to see how this genre grew. How this genre went from there to be speed metal, to be thrash metal. From punk to heavy metal mixture and yeah, it’s really nice music! Big respect to heavy metal because if wasn’t for them, we wouldn’t have these things, we wouldn’t be able to listen to thrash metal, speed metal or death metal or whatever! They contributed a lot to the music scene.
Dance With The Devil is out now via Nuclear Blast Records.
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