...SIŁA I PIĘKNO MUZYKI TKWIĄ W JEJ RÓŻNORODNOŚCI..


..::OPIS::..

No i nie mówiłem? Same reedycje i wznowienia ostatnio do mnie wpadają. Jak tak dalej pójdzie, to nic nowego nie będzie już wydawane, hehe…

No dobra, przesadzam, po prostu Hooked on Metal Records specjalizuje się w reedycjach. Tym razem padło na drugi krążek Szwedów z Axewitch. Trzy lata temu ten sam label wypuścił wznowienie debiutu, więc logika (i głód maniaków!) wskazuje, że przyszła właśnie kolej na album numer dwa.

Wydany oryginalnie w 1984 roku (bardzo dobry rocznik, a ponoć ludzie urodzeni w tym roku mają strasznie dużo pozytywnych cech, podobnie jak albumy które się wtedy ukazały) zatytułowany „Visions of the Past” album po tych czterdziestu latach całkiem nieźle się broni. Jest to granie z dużą dozą melodii, która czterdzieści lat temu niekoniecznie oznaczała jeszcze wiochę. Refreny wpadają w ucho i najzwyczajniej w świecie kawałki z drugiej płyty Axewitch możecie sobie nucić przy prostych czynnościach dnia codziennego. Tempa są średnio szybkie, raczej standardowe dla nagrań z tej ery – przynajmniej dla muzyki określanej po prostu jako heavy metal, a nie żaden speed czy coś. Dostajemy również jeden wolniejszy numer i gwoli ścisłości, on również się broni.

Mowa o wznowieniu, więc szanujące się wznowienie powinno zawierać jakieś rarytasy, z drugiej strony nie każdy lubi to rozwiązanie. Hooked on Metal Recrods wyciąga rękę właśnie do tych drugich. Nie ma tu bonusowych kawałków, nie ma żadnych skanów plakatów czy flayersów. Że tak powiem – goła płyta, a muzyka broni się sama.

No i rzeczywiście po tych czterdziestu latach broni się nieźle. Na tyle, że zespół nadal działa i nagrywa. A Katii i Dominikowi chwała za odświeżenie tego albumu.

Oracle

Welcome back to The Lazarus Pit, a look back at should-be classic records that don’t get nearly enough love. Today we’re looking at Axewitch’s 1984 record Visions of the Past. This second album from the Swedish trad/NWOBHM band is an excellent mean median example of a more or less forgotten metal album from 1984, full of heart—overflowing with heart—and embodying everything that made the era so exciting.

Now, a note: anyone following this column over the past few months could be forgiven for accusing me of falling into a sort of doey-eyed nostalgia over poverty metal that really wasn’t exactly turning a lot of heads at the time. But you have to readjust that lens: there are only so many poverty metal albums from 1984 (granted, that number is pretty large), and that’s a time and place that can’t be recreated now. So, sure, I suppose this is a lesson in re-evaluation, a look back at some records that are not top tier, I’m not denying that, but upon closer investigation (something none of us have done with this record in years) contains a certain magic in it that is lost in time, and, indeed, lost to the second tier of metal bands of the era.

So, with that context in mind, put this one on and get it started with the awesome opening title track. Man, there’s a chorus, the unexpected turn in melody when it hits never failing to get the dopamine, and adrenaline, flowing. The song rules—it falls somewhere between cold gothic trad and NWOBHM, I’ve heard countless retro trad bands follow its formula exactly, and it’s a sound that more or less reaffirms life when you need it to. Based on the strength of this song, the discount bins were not were Visions of the Past should have ended up.

“Give them Hell” follows that up with a speedy trad metal rocker with economic riffs flying hard and mighty, a smart choice for a second cut here. “Tonight” just makes you want to party hard like it’s a summer Saturday night in 1984, maybe 1985, all over again. It turns its back on the cover art and is concerned less with the slaying of the dragon than it is with letting the beer flow freely, and Axewitch make you realize, yeah, there’s time for both. “Hot Lady” continues this line of thought, as the band threaten to get a bit too stoopid, but their charm keeps them above the lowest common denominator here, even if the end result is a bit unremarkable.

“Stand Up” kicks off side B with a brisk and energetic anthem, one that, with a bit of convincing, wouldn’t be wildly out of place on a prime-era Accept record. Love the smart songwriting come chorus-time; this must have sounded amazing when played live around the time of this record’s release.

“Heading for a Storm” is ambitious and the band gets through the mellower parts with no shortage of gusto, even if they don’t quite hit the mark; when it picks up, however, it packs a perfect metal punch, solid and sturdy, checking off all the boxes. It’s a bit much at 6:21, but it’s got spirit. “Born In Hell” has both a gallop part and a dirgey swamp part to it; “Time to Live” has a bit of late-album boogie; “Evil Circle”’s opening riff is absolute, 100-percent pure metal glory.

Again, I’m not here to say every metal record released in the ’80s with a castle on the cover is good even though it’s imperfect… but, fuck it, that’s sort of the conclusion I’m reaching here after writing about this stuff for so long. But, also again: it’s not just nostalgia, it’s the realization that these records are time capsules of an era that can’t be replicated. There are some great bands mining trad territory out there today, and they get big horns up from me, but there’s just something special, warts and all, about these old records, young bands shooting high and hard, unaware of what glories or disasters the future may hold as they explore this exciting sonic terrain and, in some very small way, help lay down the framework of the modern metal we all live and die for today.

Greg Pratt


Axewitch jazz things up a bit more (not literally) with their second full-lengther where over the year they seem to generate some juice that’s a few volts hotter than those that sparked their past two powerlines, however this mild, yet noteworthy surge doesn’t burn at the cost of upturned speed values, warmer intensity, or changes in songwriting style. Not really, and strangely as a result of, I dunno, what could be revised ideas and/or clearer thinking, Visions of the Past spins with what could be heard as updated veneer that will likely fall under natural progression, however at the same time one should wonder if metal’s ’83 and ’84 winds of change blew the siding off the five-piece’s pre-’82 house which, by The Lord of Flies, had started to seem kinda dilapidated.

Whatever the reason, the unperturbed roster of Micke, Mange, Wallen, Matte, and Tommy unite once again and this time push more metal dynamic into the daylight that, up until now, had mostly been sheltered by the large hard rock outcropping that has been the band’s balcony since birth. Shove marks made in the gravel by the burly “Give Them Hell”, double bass-rumbled slabs in “Time to Live” and “Stand Up”, proud “Tonight”, and the opening title cut are evidence that Axewitch exuded at least perceptible effort to further burnish their reflective surfaces not unlike same year shiners from Quartz and Battleaxe, surfaces that were always there, hazily, as if smeared with white liquid wax, then neglected for the pouring of concrete.

Even the stony floors of “Born in Hell” and “Hot Lady” as well as jagged edges of “Time to Live” and “Stand Up” have a less morose and brighter climate compared to the band’s prior weather, which could come from the continued half notch or so jazz-up by another Decibel Studio production. Alas, despite what rises somewhere above the mark here, the album’s longest vision is also its weakest. “Heading up a Storm” is a half-ballad that meanders a bit near the start with a story predictably soft and serene, then just as predictably finds a hardened pace, then backtracks to stroll in place by retracing its similar cushion-soled footsteps. Luckily, complacency is blown to the side as it builds some fairly dramatic ‘the power in power ballad’ traction that hoofs it across a finish line that by the end was thirsty for turbulence.

The band’s known songwriting blueprint hasn’t really changed too noticeably since their inception, yet here the rock-to-metal ratio slides happily toward the latter, leveling off on more even terrain where the listener can feel like she’s treading forward through mid-‘80s calendar pages instead of being trapped on one in ’82. A listener could feel this way, or she could know for a fact the wind pushing against her blows in from a more metal-rampant ’84, and despite valiantly trudging forward through the same wind, Visions of the Past could still kinda sound a few gusts behind the times.

My customary research shows Visions of the Past landed at #12 on the Swedish hard rock charts with additional licensing through Neat Records in the U.K., Roadrunner in Europe, and Banzai in Canada. Combine that with the #7 placings of the Pray for Metal ep (beat out by Loverboy as well as everyone’s hard rock icon, Michael Bolton) and The Lord of Flies and we get an act that not only should have been, but still should be contenders to royalty that equals more than a runner-up ribbon from a tractor pull. Well, Axewitch’s (Axe Witch, Axewitch…I say screw the space) show isn’t over yet.

Gutterscream



..::TRACK-LIST::..

1. Visions Of The Past
2. Give Them Hell
3. Tonight
4. Hot Lady
5. Stand Up
6. Heading For A Storm
7. Born In Hell
8. Time To Live

Bonus Tracks (Demo 1984):
9. Evil Circle
10. Visions Of The Past
11. Give Them Hell
12. Tonight
13. Hot Lady
14. Heading For A Storm
15. Time To Live



..::OBSADA::..

Matte - Drums
Micke - Guitars
Magge - Guitars
Wallen - Vocals
Tommy - Bass



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=or8KLBoUbxM


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