{"id":71859,"date":"2018-08-08T00:00:06","date_gmt":"2018-08-08T00:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=71859"},"modified":"2018-08-21T21:20:44","modified_gmt":"2018-08-21T21:20:44","slug":"album-review-witchfyre-grimorium-verum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-witchfyre-grimorium-verum\/","title":{"rendered":"WITCHFYRE – Grimorium Verum (2018) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

WITCHFYRE
Grimorium Verum<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nFighter (2018)<\/span>
Rating: 7\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n\n\n
<\/td>\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

Just like Bloodlost\u2019s recent Diary Of Death<\/em><\/a> album, Spain\u2019s Witchfyre offers up a deliciously 80s cover art and a sound that also harkens back to dark, Gothic gallops.<\/p>\n

I recently reviewed the brilliant Candle album The Keeper\u2019s Curse<\/em><\/a> and have had a penchant for stuff like Portrait et al, and Witchfyre will no doubt appeal to those that have taken huge dollops of King Diamond and Mercyful Fate.<\/p>\n

Admittedly the vocals of Emi Metal aren\u2019t a patch on Mr. Diamond, but he has a volatile throat that weaves its way through the dark guitar work of L. O\u2019Witchfield, who provides the sinister rhythmic waves, while G.G. Andrews\u2019 leads are gloriously devilish in their worming.<\/p>\n

Grimorium Verum<\/em> is also strongly associated with a power metal ethos. Tracks such as \u2018Lord Of The Underworld\u2019 wind with pace then slow to Gothic construction, although Emi\u2019s vocals at times do seem to struggle when they reach for the higher notes. But it does sort of add to the charm of this mystical metal workout where you\u2019ll find such moody titles as \u2018Devil\u2019s Child\u2019, \u2018The Guardian Of The Dead\u2019, \u2018Night Hunter\u2019 and \u2018Samhain\u2019, all of which rattle like an old skeleton shaken from its grave as the drums of J. Thundervil thud like peels of thunder to the equally bony shuddering of bassist P.G. War.<\/p>\n

\u2018The Guardian Of The Dead\u2019 offers a slow, ominous trudge in its style, while \u2018Devil\u2019s Child\u2019 provides a strong gallop across the darkened shores. Indeed, it\u2019s all rather formulaic 80s exercising, where \u2018No Rest For The Witched\u2019 offers a smokescreen of percussive sprints and thrashy wails. Meanwhile, \u2018Behind The Wall\u2019 has a suspenseful flurry of axe fire to attack us with, the leads making a nice atmospheric weave before the band embarks on another steady but moodier gait; this one being one of the album\u2019s best examples of throwback metal with an Eastern guitar and strong Mercyful Fate flavour.<\/p>\n

Sure, it\u2019s all rather uniform in its sword \u2018n\u2019 sorcery regression; the samey steel-eyed cauldrons of bubbling metal stirred with steady rotation. However, what I like about a track such as the aforementioned \u2018Behind The Wall\u2019 is Emi\u2019s grisly tone \u2013 barely a crack visible this time as he howls at the moon. Elsewhere, \u2018Queen Of The Night\u2019 sparkles and simmers to great effect, again led by the tumbling percussion and a measured guitar tone. But soon we\u2019re back to the standard nocturnal cackling as with vintage aplomb we\u2019re dragged into the coven of bloodcurdling caterwauls, and I can\u2019t really complain.<\/p>\n

Witchfyre, through all their at times bland 80s rambling, remain somewhat cosy as fireside metal all too keen to spread nightmarish tales to frightened youngsters. There\u2019s weight, pace and darkness throughout Grimorium Verum<\/em>… ideal ingredients then should one still wish to feast on such valiant yet uneven medieval tomfoolery.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WITCHFYREGrimorium Verum Fighter (2018)Rating: 7\/10 Just like Bloodlost\u2019s recent Diary Of Death album, Spain\u2019s Witchfyre offers up a deliciously 80s cover art and a sound that also harkens back to dark, Gothic gallops. I recently reviewed the brilliant Candle album The Keeper\u2019s Curse and have had a penchant for stuff like Portrait et al, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,4113],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-71859","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-witchfyre"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71859","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71859"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71859\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":71860,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71859\/revisions\/71860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}