IRON SPELL - Electric Conjuring
April 19, 2016, 8 years ago
(Empire)
Evil sounding chant greets the ears, as these old school minded Chileans kick off their debut. Despite the occult trappings, the music is decidedly NWOBHM inspired: clean, slightly off-key high pitched vocals atop guitar driven melodies, brief solos intact. “Torches In The Woods” and the instrumental “Under The Iron Spell” prove the band knows how to write infectious metal, but for all the promise shown, there are also some bumps & bruises along the way, particularly when it comes to vocal harmonies, as witnessed on “The Witch”.
However, the pluses outweigh the minuses, especially for a fledgling band's first try. “Night Of The Mothman” contains gang backing vocals and some of the most spirited playing of the 11 offerings. Twin leads on the more mid-tempo “Stormrider”, while the 3:15 “Black Candle Light” rides a quick, snare driven beat, until opting for King Diamond-ish change of direction. The finale is a little vignette, of an imprisoned man, first use of keyboards and spoken word introduced. Hopefully there will be more where this came from, as I'm under an Iron Spell.
