BURNING WITCHES
"Inquisition" (Napalm Records; 2003)
Reviewed by R. Scott Bolton
To be completely honest, I didn't know much about Burning Witches until a few years ago, when I caught The Iron Maidens live here in Ventura, and—despite the fact that the entire band was amazing live—I was particularly struck with the performance of Courtney Cox. Not only does she shred the living hell out of her guitar, she had a stage presence that was riveting. When I heard she had moved away from The Iron Maidens and into Burning Witches, I admit I felt a little disappointment. Then I started digging into Burning Witches and I realized, yeah, this is a band worthy of Cox's talents and a band I wanted to follow.
So along comes "Inquisition," the 2025 album by Burning Witches, and it might be their best yet (please note, I'm still exploring past releases). "Inquisition" is a razor-sharp metal album, with driving riffs, fiery leads, a tight, powerful rhythm section, and multi-layer vocals that serve as both rock'n'roll screams and smooth haunting tones.
It's the kind of album that, when you're down about the state of heavy metal (and I've been a little down lately), strikes you like a lightning bolt and makes you realize the reports of heavy metal's death was an exaggeration.
The band only slows down once here, on the gentle and haunting "Release Me." And I truly liked every track here but my favorites were the pulverizing "Shame," the title track, "Inquisition," in which vocalist Laura Guldemond truly shines, "Burn in Hell" with its Judas Priest-like riffs and the incendiary "Mirror Mirror."
In my book, Burning Witches is one of the best metal bands out there now and "Inquisition" is one of the best albums of the year.
For more information, check out https://www.burningwitches.ch/.
Rating Guide:
A classic. This record will kick your ass.
Killer. Not a classic but it will rock your world.
So-so. You've heard better.
Pretty bad. Might make a nice coaster.
Self explanatory. Just the sight of the cover makes you wanna hurl.
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Copyright © 2025 by R. Scott Bolton. All rights reserved.
