ICARUS WITCH „Capture the Magic”

Music: Old School Heavy Metal
website: http://www.icaruswitch.com/
Country: USA
Duration: 40:17 (9 songs)
Cool Songs: Storming the Castle, Awakening the Mountain Giants, S.A.T.O.

The legend of Icarus is found in Greek mythology some 3000 years ago. Daedalus and his son, Icarus, were faced with the challenge of escaping from the Labyrinth of King Minos on the isle of Crete to the mainland of Greece. By all accounts, Daedalus was a master of innovation exemplified by his work as an artist, sculptor, architect and engineer.

Daedalus fashioned wings of feathers and wax for his son, Icarus, and himself. He cautioned Icarus to fly neither too high, nor too low, for the sun would melt the wax or the waves drench the feathers. Icarus ignored his father's warnings and thrilled with the power of flight, flew too close to the sun, fell into the sea and perished. Daedalus flew to safety and later erected a monument to his son, who has remained a cautionary symbol warning of the incautious exuberance of youth.

Why Icarus Witch chose to use the name as part of their moniker is unknown to me (maybe in homage to Maidens 'Flight of Icarus') but we might draw some sililarities to the mythological story of Icarus.

Like Icarus this band is young and have been 'educated' by the music of our metal fore fathers. They have taken flight with this album in its stellar production and musicianship true to the metal of yore!

This band is amazing! Any of you who have 'Roses on White Lace' know what I mean and this CD continues on where 'Roses' left off! Consistent throughout a near perfect 'Old School Metal' Album! Eight new original songs and a adrenalized version of Ozzy's “S.A.T.O.”, which they dedicate to the memory of the late, great, Randy Rhoads. Frank Aresti is a guest on “The Ghost Of Xavior Holmes” and George 'Mr Scary' Lynch takes the lead on “S.A.T.O.”!

Storming the Castle – Trading off Crunching power chords and melodic lead guitar riffs sets the tone at the intro to this lyrically focused medieval song. “Tonight, were storming the Castle” tells a tale of medieval conquest. Wonderful dark lyircs such as “We'll hold the Kings head high and feed his body to the rats!” The song ends with sound effects of fire.

Capture the Magic – Great intro very much like classic Iron Maiden! The song then quickly slows down and becomes very slow and melodic only to explode back to the energetic guitar riffs. The song plods a little slow at times. The title of the song is repeated almost too much through the song.

Soothsayer – Real groove laden tune with interesting back ground vocals 'aaaahhhhaaahh'. Another slower tune with some great guitar special effects interlaced throughout. Kind of has an Alice Cooper feel to it. The lead guitar solo blazes with a malmsteen style. There is a chuggin rythmn guitar in the background that sounds really cool.

Forevermore – A straighforward hard rock song reminiscent of Iron Maiden. Again, excellent lead guitar solo.

The Ghost of Xavior Holmes – A moody rocker about a haunted New England ship wreck with of course a brilliant guitar solo! Cool atmostpheric intro to the song. The bass is allowed to shine on this song as well and adds depth. The drums have a 'military march' feel to them. Would be great for the soundtrack to the new/old movie 'The Fog'!

Darklands – The fading note from 'Ghost' leads right into the beginning of 'Darklands' which gives the feel that they are connected deliberately, and maybe they are. The song is about warriors who are searching for something? across the 'darklands'. The song like forevermore is a straight forward rocker that changes tempo a few times through the song.

Nemeton Forest – One of the Hardest faster songs on the album done with a litte more intensity. One cool aspect is during the beginnig of the song all the players stop while the lead guitar takes a solo and jumps back in. The song is about a Christian rite of Celtic traditions that takes place in the …. you guessed it!

Awakening the Mountian Giants – Warriors and savages, giants and mountains, old men of prophecy, archers and villagers, What more could you ask for in a great Metal song! Tends to be melodically moody with hard edge guitars that plods through the epic adventure!

S.A.T.O. Hey, what can I say! Done true to its original form! A classic rendition to be proud of. You'll find your head banging along just like the first time you heard this song back in '81! Oh Yeah lead guitar by George Lynch who doesn't take away from it original feel but you can hear some snippets of his signature sound.

I can't say enough about the lead singer! Similar to Alice cooper but better and harder edged. Overall one great metal album and already is in my top three metal albums of 2005. Great production and song cohesiveness, they definately 'Capture the Magic' with this album!

Let us hope the story of this 'Icarus' does not mimic the legend because I for one would not want to see this band fly too close too the sun and melt into oblivion.

note: 9.5/10

Tracklist

Storming the Castle
Capture the Magic *
Soothsayer
Forevermore
The Ghost of Xavior Holmes *
Darklands
Nemeton Forest
Awaken the Mountain Giants
S.A.T.O

Line-up

Jason Myers – Bass
Matthew Bizilia – Vocals
Steve Pollick – Guitar
Greg Gruben – Guitar
John Passarelli – Drummer