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WILD WITCH
Reaper’s Blade

Classic Metal (2025)
Rating: 7/10

Eight years after their 2017 debut album The Offering, sporadic headbangers Wild Witch come surging back with this sophomore effort. Bassist Felipe Rippervert and drummer Weiberlan Garcia are all that remains from the original 2011 line-up which formed out of the Brazilian underground. They are joined by axeman Lucas Rodrigues who joined the ranks in 2017 and new vocalist Tiago Souza who was recruited last year.

Reaper’s Blade is a rather concise heavy metal album at just under 38 minutes and it begins with ‘Get Out!’. It’s reasonably standard metal, but there’s some fiery Teutonic styled aggression as the album unfolds. There are times when the tribe borders on melodic speed metal and power metal, the latter emerging more so with the vocal attack. You’ll hear hints of Judas Priest on ‘King Of The Skies’, especially with the fizz of the riffs.

There’s such a rich blaze to the musicianship at whichever level the band operates at. I’m sure the headbangers on the European festival circuit would lap up Wild Witch due to the energy and melodic vigour showcased on songs like the nostalgic thud and sizzle of the mid-tempo ‘Fist’, the thunder gallop of ‘WitchRipper’ and the strident calls on ‘Path To The Passion’.

Souza is not the best vocalist in the land, he’s a touch off kilter at times, but that’s where I draw the comparisons with a mid-80s, lower budget German metal act. That’s not to say this is a cheap and cheerful release, because, as I said, the instrumentation provides quite the wall of warmth.

The axe and drum work on ‘Magic’s Sin’ is an enchanting delight, where again we are served a scorching gallop that’s occasionally rough around the edges. ‘Edge Of Chaos’ is as equally robust, especially with the spine of the bass, so it’s very much a true heavy metal outing that gave me more than I expected.

Neil Arnold

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