“Visions Of The Past” was originally released in 1984, the reissue by Hooked On Metal Records is the 40th anniversary gift to the fans who love traditional Heavy Metal. When my editor passed around the album, I took a day to respond and checked their Bandcamp page in the interim. I loved what I heard and immediately picked this album up. At its heart, AXEWITCH is an incredibly tight and a reasonably eloquent band, which would’ve been one of the many of its kind during the first wave of traditional Heavy Metal. What immediately stands out is the bass playing, I hear the IRON MAIDEN / Steve Harris gallop on most of the record. The guitar work is absolutely spotless, the solos are absolutely amazing. I’m confident Mark “The Shark” Shelton would’ve nodded in approval if he heard AXEWITCH. As luck would have it, I recently heard “Crystal Logic”, which was released in 1983, and I am able to relate to what AXEWITCH looked to execute in 1984. Now, mind you, this is their second full length, they’ve had quite a success with their debut already. The approach is similar, the energy of the band is just as electric, the vocals are stellar, the highs especially are so well done that it is absolutely a pleasure to listen to them. The execution is brilliant (track # 3 – ‘Tonight’ is an ideal example which would’ve taken DEF LEPPARD in an even fight) and the production is appropriate. Knowing us fans, it never came in between, but instead added legitimacy to the band / release. On the whole AXEWITCH’s sound is a sweet spot between Clive Burr era IRON MAIDEN’s and DEF LEPPARD’s first 2 releases. “Visions Of The Past” is a fun album and I played it a couple of times in the car, it is a wonderful companion. I absolutely loved everything about this release. Granted, there’s always an element of history that we invariably attach to releases from this timeline and in all probability overlook some of the obvious downsides, but AXEWITCH haven’t given me anything to complain about so far on “Visions Of The Past”. If you like Heavy Metal at large and enjoy British Heavy Metal or European ’80s Heavy Metal, I would definitely recommend this release to you (which comes with seven bonus tracks from the band’s 1984 demo – Frank) , and I’m positive it will be worth your time. For more information, please visit: www.facebook.com/axewitch, www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063235868703