Remember when women in metal were forced to conform to a soft focus, fluffy image (think Vixen and Lisa Dominique)? Thankfully, those days are long gone and now people are now judged upon talent (which is exactly how it should be), and they don’t come much more talented than Burning Witches. Formed in Brugg, Aargau, Switzerland in 2015, the band are noted as being one of the hardest on the scene and celebrate their 10th anniversary in style, namely with a career-defining album in the shape of Inquisition.

Burning Witches draw favourable comparisons with such 1980s luminaries as Iron Maiden, Warlock, and Overkill (which makes them immediately likeable), and while the band are kind enough to wear their influences upon their collective sleeve, they definitely have their own thing going on. However, no art exists within a void and there’s no denying that the band have a strong affection for metal’s greatest era and that can’t help but come shining through in their sound. With the core of the band (Jeanine Grob, bass; Lala Frischknecht, drums; Romana Kalkuhl, guitars) being together since their inception, Burning Witches form a tight unit and this not only comes across in their musicianship but also in the way that the album is structured. They don’t feel the need to arrive with all guitars blazing and drums firing, rather we get the instrumental ‘Sanguini Hominum’, an ethereal introduction with which to welcome us to the world of Inquisition. With monks chanting, ghostly leads and the drums beating a military tattoo, it transports us to another world (as all good heavy metal should) and means that when the band kick in with opener proper ‘Soul Eater’, it is with some force. Make no mistake, this is a foot-on-the-monitor, horns-held-high, follicle-flying, metal-fest and one with whose effervescence it’s impossible not to get swept up with. Vocalist Laura Guldemond is in fine fettle and unleashes some glass-shattering squeals, whilst guitarist Courtney Cox makes a nice tag team with the aforementioned Romana Kalkuhl, the pair riffing in tandem and trading explosive solos, making a duo who could rival Maiden’s Murray/Smith combination in their prime.

The songwriting is largely down to Romana Kalkuhl, and this gives the album a tight focus. These dozen songs hang together as a collective whole and that’s partly due to Destruction guitarist Damir Eskić who, along with V.O. Pulver (Gurd), has given the album an even handed production which is full-on and punchy, yet gives all the instruments plenty of room to breathe. Songs such as the majestic title-track and ‘High Priestess Of The Night’ inhabit distinctly power metal territory whist the full-throttle ‘Burn In Hell’ captures that magic moment when the NWOBHM was morphing into thrash. The band even find time to toss a ballad into the mix in the shape of ‘Release Me’…and why the hell not?

Another haunting instrumental bookends the album and brings things nicely full circle. The band have upped their game a few notches for this release and this could just be the record that propels them towards metal’s top tier.

• Inquisition is released via Napalm Records on 22nd August 2025.
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Track List:

1. Sanguini Hominum
2. Soul Eater
3. Shame
4. The Spell Of The Skull
5. Inquisition
6. High Priestess Of The Night
7. Burn In Hell
8. In For The Kill
9. Release Me
10. In The Eye Of The Storm
11. Mirror, Mirror
12. Malus Maga