Review | Seven Witches ‘Call Upon The Wicked’

Call Upon The Wicked

Founded by guitarist Jack Frost in 1998, U.S. Heavy Metal band Seven Witches has experience a revolving door of members (only Frost being the lone original member). It goes without saying that Seven Witches is Frost’s band and he has maintained their standing as a Heavy Metal band throughout their existence. Their eighth studio record ‘Call Upon The Wicked‘ (out June 3rd, 2011 on Massacre Records) is no exception. This is a Heavy Metal record in every sense of the term. Loaded with monster riffs, gritty, soaring vocals, thundering bass and hard hitting drums this line up of Seven Witches (maybe the best ever) consisting of Jack Frost (guitar) James Rivera (vocals) Mike LePond (bass) and Taz Marazz (drums) delivers an explosive all out assault of traditional Heavy Metal.

Seasoned Metal vocalist James Rivera (Helstar, Vicious Rumors) sets the tone for ‘Call Upon The Wicked‘ on the opening track ‘Field Of Fire‘ (see the video below) with a stratospheric scream over Frost’s tight crunchy riffing. The band cranks out ‘Lilith‘ a dark, sludgy tune that showcases Rivera’s ability to sing down and dirty. Production on the record (Jack Frost) is top notch, with tasty little effects mixed in throughout the album. Next up is the title track ‘Call Upon The Wicked‘ an up tempo number showcasing bassist Mike LePond as he tears it up with a killer bass line and smokin’ fills along with drummer Taz Marazz and his machine gun double bass attack. The boys keep it going with ‘Ragnarock‘ a kickin’ tune loaded with big riffs and ball busting solo’s. Seven Witches shift’s gear and slows things down a bit with the nine minute epic ‘End Of Days‘ a song that is full of twists and turns and has Rivera performing a duet with a female vocalist. The band gets into Thrash mode with the brutal song ‘Mind Game‘ and the rippin’ ‘Harlot Of Troy‘ played at break neck speed. Back to some serious Heavy Metal with ‘Eyes Of Fame‘ a slow moving powerful tune that reminds me of vintage Judas Priest. And then, wow, a cover of Cream’s classic ‘White Room‘ with a metal update, very nice. The Digipak version features three live bonus tracks from a Seven Witches show.

Overall ‘Call Upon The Wicked‘ is an essential record for any fan of Seven Witches and Heavy Metal music and will be a nice addition to any iPod, it’s definitely going on mine.

Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars.

Favorite Track: Lilith

‘Call Upon The Wicked‘ Track Listing:
1. Fields Of Fire
2. Lilith
3. Call Upon The Wicked
4. Ragnarock
5. End Of Days
6. Mind Games
7. Harlot Of Troy
8. Eyes Of Flame
9. White Room
10. Metal Tyrant (Digipak bonus)
11. Metal Asylum (Digipak bonus)
12. Jacob (Digipak bonus)

Seven Witches are:
James Rivera – Vocals
Jack Frost – Guitars
Mike LePond – Bass
Taz Marazz – Drums