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Magick & Mischief
New but not so new...SpellBook are a Pennsylvania based band that released three albums under the name Witch Hazel. They have rechristened themselves and should have called the band Black N Blue...oh wait that name is taken. The music bears the musical imprint of Black Sabbath and Blue Oyster Cult. A total 70s dark/doomy metal mash up.
"In the early ‘00s, almost every new band was blindly following the BLACK SABBATHtrend, and because of this, the Metal scene became saturated with Doomy guitar-laden releases that, to be honest, sounded quite similar to each other. Fortunately, this crazy trend has died down leaving the true believers chasing the Doom / Occult Rock / Proto Metal dream. Formerly known as WITCH HAZEL from York, Pennsylvania, SPELLBOOK seems to be one of those and is about to deliver an album that “marries BLACK SABBATH, PENTAGRAM and Progressive Rock for seven songs of entrancing classic Metal”, directly quoted from the press release. Can this venture be considered as inspired and/or successful even? Let’s give fresh-from-the-oven “Magick & Mischief” a spin to find out.
The quite fitting, magical theme-titled “Wands To The Sky” lifts the curtain (or cloak, if you like) and shows its true colors right from the start; DEEP PURPLE-ish keyboard melodies and Rock groovy guitars set the tone for what’s coming; ‘70s / ‘80s Rock tunes that will shake your world. On top of this uplifting Rock cake, there are Nate Tyson’s crispy and Ozzy-like trippy vocals that nurture the BLACK SABBATH references I was talking about earlier. With that being said, SPELLBOOK’s music should not be approached as a run-of-the-mill SABBATH-inspired tunes, because the hard-working band was focused on creating its own identity, and it shows. Take for example the BLUE ÖYSTER CULT-like intro in “Black Shadow” with the catchy and easy to sing along chorus, or the funky basslines in “Ominous Skies”, and if you look past the Ozzy-dipped vocals, you will notice the awesome drum work that winks at you between the old school, Heavy guitar work.
What I like the most here, are the non-Ozzy sounding tracks, like “Not Long For This World” and “Amulet / Fare Thee Well”; in the former, Tyson transforms into a different beast, working his way from the lower range to the high-pitched screaming that actually fits the track’s moody atmosphere like hand in glove. And while you have convinced yourself it can’t get any better, the latter track kicks the door down in a GRAVEYARD / “Lights Out” manner, building the momentum with warm guitars and epic drumming, leading to Tyson’s classic Rock-sounding timbre as he unfolds its dynamic to all its occult glory. The rest of the band’s backing vocals work in the track’s favor, tying to what I already said about “working hard in the details”. A true surprise is the album’s closing track “Dead Detectives”; its Jazzy character makes quite an impression, and even though sounds a bit strange when compared to the rest, the Alice Cooper-laden setup (think of the “Welcome To My Nightmare” era) and again Tyson’s metamorphosis into a Burlesque-type performer wrap things up, and it’s quite brilliant how it reveals its dark colors in an IN SOLITUDE / TRIBULATION way somewhere in the middle.
It’s fantastic how “Magick & Mischief” unfolds all its ‘70s / ‘80s Rock glory, hitting all the right nostalgia spots, going from SABBATH to DEEP PURPLE to B.O.C. with finesse and style, proving that these guys know what they’re doing. It was more than exciting to learn that SPELLBOOK are in a high creative mode right now and already writing for the next album, which is something rare these days. But until then, open up the spellbook and dig into “Magick & Mischief”." - Metal Kaoz