Album Review: Icarus Witch – Rise

Icarus Witch – Rise
Release Date: July 03, 2012
Highlights: The End, (We Are) The New Rebellion, Rise, Tragedy, Pray, In The Dark, Last Call For Living

When Iron Maiden parted ways with their first singer Paul DiAnno, it wasn’t because the bloke sucked. Actually, Paul was a great singer but he was beginning to limit Iron Maiden from achieving the growth that would eventually make them the greatest heavy metal band of all time. By getting a new singer (Bruce Dickinson), they were able to take their band to a new level that offered up many more possibilities. That is the best way to describe Icarus Witch’s move in switching vocalists. On their latest album Rise, new vocalist Christopher Shaner proves to be just what the doctor ordered to take this supremely talented band to a whole new level that up to this point seemed just beyond their reach.

The album’s opening track “The End” right away is a totally punch in the face with their signature traditional heavy metal groove. Shaner’s vocals right away brought a huge smile to my face and had me throwing horns and metal claws as I nodded with approval. (We Are) The New Revolution hit me with a healthy dose of anthem metal while “Tragedy” definitely solidified itself as my favorite track on the album. “Nothing Is Forever” was a dark, ambient ballad that I really wanted to like but for some reason I just couldn’t connect with it. That’s not to say that it was a bad song. It was just a totally forgettable track. Hell, if the worst song on the album still isn’t a “bad” song, I would say that Icarus Witch has done really well.

Icarus Witch was a band that was being held back by limitations. They knew exactly what they needed to do to get to the next level and by securing a powerhouse vocalist they achieved it. Rise as a whole is a sonic eargasm of stellar production, vocals that beckon back to the metal greats of old, and enough tempo changes and wailing screams that Iron Maiden would nod in approval with a shit eating grin. Icarus Witch is a sort of Delorean time machine transporting the classic heavy metal sounds of long ago to our modern times where it is much needed. Icarus Witch isn’t re-inventing the wheel here and they’re not doing anything groundbreaking. They are merely reminding everyone just how much heart and soul that heavy metal once possessed long before the digital age of vocal autotune and ProTools. Joining the ranks of bands such as Holy Grail, White Wizzard, and 3 Inches of Blood, Icarus Witch are preservers of classic metal and they are doing a damn fine job at it.

For more on Icarus Witch, go to: http://www.icaruswitch.com/

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