One of the most surprising albums of 2018 was the stunning new album from Burning Witches – Hexenhammer, an album that brought a lot of attention to the German hard rockers and won them a legion of new fans. Now Nuclear Blast has capitalised on that by packaging together their self-titled debut album Burning Witches and their stunning live EP Burning Alive and as someone who missed out on these the first time they went around I have to say they are nothing short of stunning.
Burning Witches explodes to life with a primal scream from Seraina as she launches into ‘Black Widow’ a track that showcases her as one of the finest female vocalists going around at the moment. Her vocals again shine through on the title track which is made even more briliiant by the driving guitars that showcase the instrumental side of the band as well.
The catchy ‘Bloody Rose’ again sees Seraina’s screams come to the fore and then the album slows down for the opening of ‘The Dark Companion’ which starts as a slow ballad before hitting full strength which some amazing axe work by both Romana and Sonia. The soft side of Burning Witches returns with ‘Save Me’ and it is one track that really shows the promise that this band has. Then there are the catchy tracks of ‘Metal Demons’ and ‘Creatures Of The Night’ either of which could be anthems for the band.
‘We Eat Your Children’ sees the witchy side of the band turned up to eleven while ‘Creator Of Hell’ once again sees Seraina hit full flight with some high pitched vocals that have to be heard to be believed. That is then followed by ‘The Deathlist’ which incorporates an old school thrash sound with something quite manic. The track is moved along with some more amazing guitar work and another catchy chorus that really shows that Burning Witches know how to win over fans with decent tracks that people can sing along to. The last track on the Burning Witches LP ‘Jawbreaker’ is yet another track that it is guitar driven and is a brilliant listen.
This package is then capped off with the amazing Burning Alive EP which sees the band pull off stunning live versions of ‘Metal Demons,’ ‘Black Widow’ and ‘Burning Witches’ that makes you just want to see the band live. Then there is the immortal cover of ‘Holy Diver’ that shows that this is a band that is going to be around for a long time to come.
If Hexenhammer won you over late last year then you just simple need to own this package as well. This is where it all began for Burning Witches and this package is one you want to listen to over and over.
