Posts Tagged ‘ Laura Guldemond ’

Album of the Week 18-2023: Burning Witches – The Dark Tower


Traditional heavy metal is a difficult field to stand out in. Even the better of the younger bands occasionally have moments that make you wish you were listening to the bands that inspired them instead. That used to be my exact opinion about Burning Witches: why would I listen to them if I could listen to Warlock instead? Over the last few albums, however, they have gradually been improving, eventually becoming a mainly mid-tempo, yet surprisingly varied heavy metal band with a more pronounced aggressive edge than most of their peers. Admittedly: the excellent vocals of Laura Guldemond have contributed to that immensely.

Compared to its direct predecessor ‘The Witch of the North’, Burning Witches’ new album ‘The Dark Tower’ feels a bit more straightforward and less theatrical. Fortunately though, the band further expands upon the improvements heard on that album. Due to most of the material being mid-tempo, variation in the riff and melody department is of vital importance to a band like Burning Witches. Their early albums were frequently lacking that variation, but lately each song on their albums has a clear identity of its own. Somehow I suspect Guldemond’s multi-faceted voice was the catalyst of that, but the guitar parts are very well thought-out.

Interestingly, while most heavy metal albums in this style tend to peter out towards the end, some of the best moments on ‘The Dark Tower’ are actually on its second half. Especially back to back highlights ‘Heart of Ice’ and ‘Arrow of Time’ are simply great. The former is full of gorgeous guitar harmonies and that verse riff is just fantastic, while the latter reaches incredible heights when it opens op for its beautiful chorus and features a blink and you miss it tribute to Dio’s ‘Holy Diver’. The more aggressive ‘Doomed to Die’ and the pulsating closer ‘The Lost Souls’ even feature some vocal nods to Guldemond’s more extreme metal roots.

‘The Dark Tower’ is not just about its latter half though. Opening track ‘Unleash the Beast’ was an early favorite due to Romana Kalkuhl’s borderline speed metal riffs and the overall aggression in everyone’s delivery. ‘World on Fire’ has just been released as a single and that is probably the right choice, as it has one of the most memorable choruses on the album. The surprisingly sutble ‘Tomorrow’ is possibly the best Burning Witches ballad to date, as it breaks with power ballad clichés by remaining fairly introspective all the way through, while ‘Renegade’ has an almost hardrock-ish vibe that makes it a cool semi-departure.

Over the last few years, Burning Witches went from being an act that might be interesting to check out on a festival to a band whose albums are very much worth hearing. And while I think ‘The Dark Tower’ is a bit too long for its own good at nearly an hour, I would have a really hard time picking which songs should have been dropped. In a genre where many bands are content to just keep doing the same thing over and over again, it is good to hear Burning Witches consistently finding new strengths, with especially the guitars of Kalkuhl and Larissa Ernst getting better each time.

Recommended tracks: ‘Heart of Ice’, ‘Unleash the Beast’, ‘Arrow of Time’

2023
05/07
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Album of the Week 22-2021: Burning Witches – The Witch Of The North


Around the time Burning Witches started writing for last year’s ‘Dance With The Devil’, the Swiss band seemed to realize that they needed a little more variation in order to stand out from the crop of younger traditional heavy metal bands. On that particular album, the increased variation in tempos was the most notable change, although the addition of Dutch singer Laura Guldemond allowed them to write for a wider range of vocal styles as well. Upon hearing ‘The Witch Of The North’, it immediately becomes clear that the material was written to make the most of the opportunities Guldemond presents.

Stylistically, the music on ‘The Witch Of The North’ does not even differ all that much from what Burning Witches has done in the past. The larger degree of theatricality and the slightly more elaborate guitar arrangement push the overall sound a bit closer to power metal than before, but Burning Witches is still clearly the same band as on their previous three albums. What always bugged me about their first two albums is that they adhered to mid-tempo territory and simple structures too often and too long to truly live up to their potential. ‘The Witch Of The North’ certainly shows a lot more fire.

For me, Burning Witches is at their best when they play more uptempo material. The band notably dialled up the intensity on the faster songs on the record, which along with Guldemond’s vocals pushes some of the songs close to thrash territory. Parts of ‘Thrall’, the opening title track and closer ‘Dragon’s Dream’ have enough aggression to please thrashers who don’t mind an amount of melody more akin to heavy and power metal. Another great asset of ‘The Witch Of The North’ is that different tempos and time feels enhance each other far more than anything Burning Witches has released up until this point.

What really makes ‘The Witch Of The North’ work as a whole, however, is the degree of drama in the melodies and the song structures, which is unlike anything Burning Witches has ever done before. A track like ‘Nine Worlds’ or the excellent ‘Flight Of The Valkyries’ goes through more different atmospheres than is usual for the band and while that could be risky, I would say that it generally pays off. An additional benefit is that it makes the mid-tempo tracks, such as ‘For Eternity’ and the particularly awesome ‘Tainted Ritual’, stand out more and sound considerably better than in the past.

Improving with each album rather than playing things safe is something that deserves praise and that is exactly what Burning Witches has done here. Sure, it’s not perfect – the verses of the ballad ‘Lady Of The Woods’ sound a little too similar to ‘Black Magic’ off the previous album and some structures come off a bit chaotic – but the band seems to become more aware of their strengths and weaknesses with each album. In addition, having a singer like Laura Guldemond really helped push them from decent to actually good. I just can’t get over the fact that the character that’s supposed to be her on the cover doesn’t look anything like her.

Recommended tracks: ‘The Witch Of The North’, ‘Tainted Ritual’, ‘Thrall’, ‘Flight Of The Valkyries’

2021
06/06
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Album of the Week 10-2020: Burning Witches – Dance With The Devil


Burning Witches is a Swiss band that has been making a mix of traditional heavy metal and contemporary power metal for the last five years. I always found their music mildly entertaining, but something has changed with their new album ‘Dance With The Devil’. First off, there is a larger variation in tempos which greatly enhances the attention span of the album. Those who like myself have been bothered by the reliance on mid-tempo rhythms will certainly find that an improvement. Secondly, new singer Laura Guldemond – the second Dutch member after guitarist Sonia ‘Anubis’ Nusselder – adds an overwhelming degree of power to the band’s music.

While the overall sound of ‘Dance With The Devil’ is not all that different from their earlier work, Guldemond’s grit allows the band to take on a more aggressive and theatrical approach. At times, Burning Witches sounds like a more straightforward sister band to Hell, though the Accept and Judas Priest influences are still quite prominent. More attention has been given to the production as well, with exciting layered arrangements in the vocal and guitar department being the norm. Together with the pacing variation, this all accounts for a more consistently engaging listening experience.

The greater deal of aggression is naturally most prominent in the faster tracks. ‘Sea Of Lies’ and the excellent opening track ‘Lucid Nightmare’ are more or less equal parts modern power metal and the most melodic end of the thrash metal spectrum, with Lala Frischknecht laying down some of her most powerful double kick patterns thus far. The former also shows off Nusselder’s ability to construct a memorable solo section by effectively making her guitar parts sort of a mini-production within the composition. The delightfully energetic ‘Wings Of Steel’ is just begging to be sung along by thousands in front of the European festival stages.

However, ‘Dance With The Devil’ is not just convincing at its most uptempo or menacing. Because of the larger number of fast moments, the mid-tempo tracks are more distinctive and powerful as well. ‘Necronomicon’ and the remarkably aggressive closer ‘Threefold Return’, for instance, have a driving undercurrent of danger, which fits Guldemond’s voice to a T. ‘Dance With The Devil’ and ‘The Sisters Of Fate’ have a bit of a gritty hardrock vibe. A true highlight is ‘The Final Fight’, which is an elegantly arranged eighties-styled Euro power metal anthem with a melancholic twist and another excellent solo section.

A band like Burning Witches is always in danger of being accused of lacking originality. Thinking so would be approaching them the wrong way, however. It is clear that the quintet wants to pay homage to their heroes from the eighties, but they do so without sounding tired or overly reliant on clichés. It does help that most of Romana Kalkuhl’s riffs have a somewhat modern bite to them, while the production is surprisingly natural and old school for power metal these days. Anyone who likes uncomplicated heavy metal with a mind-blowing vocal performance and a great number of fiery solos should give ‘Dance With The Devil’ a chance. It is easily Burning Witches’ best album yet.

Recommended tracks: ‘Lucid Nightmare’, ‘The Final Fight’, ‘Wings Of Steel’

2020
03/08
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