From time to time Metal music produces some very unique vocalists with very personal voices. It was this way with the great Ozzy, the mighty Saxon’s Biff Bifford, the king of the dead Cirith Ungol’s Tim Baker, and Mötley Crue’s Vince Neil. Wicked Leather with “Season of the Witch” recover a part of Metal music history presenting us Yamila Martins with her nasal voice that opens the ways to the wounds of the dead. Not to mention Metal music force to reveal fantastic voices as Judas Priest’s Rob Halford, Ronnie James Dio and Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson only to mention a few.
That’s not the only mention to Metal music’s past that the band does. “Season of the Witch” is also a song from Leatherwolf, another band that uses the term leather on their name. Well, leather is one words Metal music has been using for a long time. There is a little bit of Letherwolf on Wicked Leather‘s music as they share the same passion for the NWOBHM with sharp and melodic twin guitars. The melodic interventions guitar duo Michel Regueiro and Alejandro Zarate built up here are unforgetable honoring Metal music’s tradition. Letherwolf did so as well.
NWOBHM inspired bands deliver one thing that pleases me the most; it is called finesse. The Rush inspired intro of title track “Season of the Witch“ makes me open a large smile. Same happens with the intro of “She is the Storm” that is something else and totally out of the song’s proposal. The way the guitars break the song is also something to praise. Pay close attention the break the guitars do with their twin thing. Yamila Martins’s voice does the rest to amaze me. Again, the way the guitars open “Crystal Lake” is also a lesson about finesse in Metal music. Finesse is the rule on Wicked Leather‘s music. That’s their musical signature, if you ask me.
“Season of the Witch” is a lesson of how NWOBHM inspired bands are still meaning to Metal music. Each time I review a band like Wicked Leather my pride goes higher and higher.
Wicked Leather “Season of the Witch” was released on January 30th via Lost Realm Records.
Track Listing:
- Season of the Witch
- She is the Storm
- Crystal Lake
- Night Hunter
- Black Goat Rising
- Midnight Creature
- Lightning Strike
- Masquerade of Shadows
Watch “Season of the Witch” official music video here:
I’m just a lucky guy who has chosen metal to live with for a long time. Metal changed my life for good. It made me more confident and stronger. Metalheads are naturally far away from the mass mediocrity and don’t accept impostures from anybody else. Metal is more than music, it’s a life changing oportunity!