Here is a reissue of the debut album from Swedish 80s Heavy Metallers AXEWITCH and you can expect a high octane dose of good old early-mid 80s Heavy Metal delivered with sharp precision and with plenty of incredibly catchy hooks! It is pedal to the metal from the get go with the first track ‘Axe Victim’ swaggering out of the speakers with energetic fervent finesse, the guitar sound is nice, warm and crisp with each riff cutting through the mix clearly, the drums pound along like a jackhammer sent to max with a lot of double kick fuelled parts, the bass is hefty and provides a weighty bottom end and the vocals lead the charge throughout reminding me of Sean Harris (DIAMOND HEAD). The lead work has to be mentioned too, all great Heavy Metal bands need strong lead playing and AXEWITCH definitely have that in abundance. This is Heavy Metal with a definite feel good vibe, the kind of Heavy Metal that was made for headbanging, fist raising and beer drinking! I can imagine just how well these songs would work in the live environment in an intimate sweaty setting with the adrenaline pumped up to full and the crowd and band feeding off each other. The production is powerful for its time with the songs really coming out of the speakers at you full force with each instrument clearly audible but there’s just the right amount of 80s style grit too so it definitely dosen’t sound overly polished, they found a good mix production wise back in the day and it does sound very of its time. This will transport you right back to the hey day of the era when the NWOBHM movement was going very strong and still a dominant force in the global Metal scene but these Swedes along with countrymen GOTHAM CITY, TORCH, SILVER MOUNTAIN, HEAVY LOAD etc were also contributing some top class Heavy Metal to the world and helping to put Scandinavia on the Metal map. It is a warm and very welcome revisit to the days when Heavy Metal was mainly just that, HEAVY METAL! There are definite nods to JUDAS PRIEST, DIAMOND HEAD and such bands and AXEWITCH are clearly influenced by such bands and NWOBHM in general. “The Lord Of Flies” will definitely appeal to anyone who loves early-mid 80s fist pumping Heavy Metal. More information at: www.facebook.com/axewitch, www.facebook.com/hooked-on-metal-records-102213271304559