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OUT NOW ON HELLS HEADBANGERS: Official anthology release featuring the entire WITCH CROSS discography including the cult classic "Fit For Fight" album, their 5 demos from the ‘80s, the “Are You There” 7" EP and the ultra obscure BLOOD EAGLE '81 demo (pre-Witch Cross). You get everything here but their live recordings & personal rehearsal sessions. Easily one of the best Danish Heavy Metal bands of all time who also recorded their album with Henrik Lundat at Easy Sound Recording, the same studio & engineer to spawn such classics as "Melissa" and "Don't Break The Oath." A mandatory release for all Heavy Metal maniacs!
*Comes in a deluxe Quad-Gatefold jacket
*Includes 8-page LP size booklet archiving tons of old photos, flyers, interviews & liner notes
*Pressed on multi-Colored Vinyl (w/ color coordinated inner sleeves)
*Lavish silver foil stamping on the front cover & metallic silver ink throughout the layout.
OVERVIEW BY HEAVY METAL EXPERT LAURENT RAMADIER (Snakepit Magazine):
When Scandinavian Metal was mentioned back in the day, there's no doubt Denmark was often coming in first position because of the quality and amazing originality the Danish acts could offer, just remember the works from MERCYFUL FATE, EVIL, PRETTY MAIDS or ARTILLERY for example. Still there was a couple of other strong Heavy Metal acts that never got much promotion back in the day and it included one that I would easily put on the highest place of the list next to the untouchable MERCYFUL FATE, that Danish entity known as WITCH CROSS!
This bunch were another example of a band having released their debut album at the wrong time -if not at the wrong place... While their debut 7" from 1983 wasn't noticed by many because it was issued on a tiny local label, their one and only debut album was released on a larger level (notably with a license to Roadrunner) but was simply lost in the massive amount of releases coming from everywhere back in 1984 and was only really appreciated by a small portion of the Heavy Metal audience... 20 years later, in a sea of boring/ ridiculous releases, old and new H.M. fans re-discovered many of the old recordings and gave them a brand new appreciation, "Fit For Fight" being nowadays considered as a pure gem - and this one really deserves completely this tag for a change. This majestic five piece band had that incredible facility to write crushing songs. No technical extravaganza, no progressive approach, just straight Heavy Metal that covers all the spectrums of the style... they had the ability to write accessible/ catchy material like "Rockin' The Night Away" or "Nightflight To Tokyo" and frenzy Power Metal sonic assaults like "Light Of A Torch", "Axe Dance" or the almost Speed Metal like closing number, "Alien Savage" (it's interesting to note that guitarist, Ole Hamilton had written those completely opposed sounding tunes "Rockin'..." and "Alien..." back in 1979 with MANDRAKE!!!). This is one of those rare albums just like "Fire Down Under", "Forged In Fire" or "The Nightcomers" that you can listen to and never get bored, where diversity flows naturally and keeps the listeners attention always awaken, over and over!
But WITCH CROSS' story didn't start and end with their good yet somewhat forgettable two track 7" and this incredible album, no the band started rockin' as BLOOD EAGLE back in the early '80s and now you can listen to their debut demo. Also some demos were cut as WITCH CROSS shortly after and those featured some semi gems like "Hell Is Here To Stay" or "The Stranger", the potential lying here is already very strong and it's clear this band had an incredible potential to write first rate songs. Also after the album got released, the band didn't split right away to reincarnate with a different line up that recorded the good yet somewhat different 1986 three song demo -that got heavily traded during the last 10 years or so- like many tend to think, instead the band returned to the studio to record a new four song demo that you will finally get to hear in this reissue. The 'in your face' approach was –like in a lot of cases at that time- somewhat tempered but the fluidity and quality were still the two predominant factors. So with this reissue, you really get for the first time a complete view on all things related to WITCH CROSS and you can really check out for yourself how criminally gifted this act was!
Don't waste this opportunity... This is a REAL METAL GEM offered here.
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