heavy metalwitchslayer
05:00 Wednesday, 10 August 2022
Chicago’s Witchslayer has finally released their self-titled album. Following the success of Witchslayer’s five-song demo in the early 1980’s, Metal Blade Records included the song “I Don’t Want To Die” on the iconic Metal Massacre 4 compilation album.
Unfortunately, the group disbanded before a new full length album could be recorded.
Fast forward to 2022, original singer Jeff Allen has reformed the band with guitarist Ken Mandat (Damien Thorne), bassist Mick Lucid (Vicious Circle), and drummer Gabriel Anthony (Tyrant’s Reign).
The new album features 11 hard-hitting tracks which were originally written by the original lineup in the early ‘80s, but recorded by the new lineup in the 2020's. Order the album on Bandcamp.
"The songs were written in the early ‘80s and were mostly influenced by the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) bands. They are US power doom metal songs and reflect the Chicago doom metal sound that was created in the ‘80s by Chicago bands such as Witchslayer, War Cry, and Trouble. When we wrote the music we wanted it to be creepy/haunting in nature. Most of the songs were written around stories we read about the Salem Witch Trials. I decided to reform the band with active Chicago metal musicians who were around in the ‘80s. We formally recorded this music to keep its ‘80s sound but with a more modern tuning." - Jeff Allen/Witchslayer
(Photo – Gene Ambo)
