WITCHFLOWER

WOW, Wicked Minds rocks! From the very first moment I heard this new Italian band, I was carried away by their heavy and dynamic sound with floods of Hammond organ, often biting, wah-wah drenched guitar and powerful vocals. The hints from early Uriah Heep are obvious but in my opinion Wicked Minds is not just a derivative band. First they offer pleasant variation in their compositions like Burning Tree (a fine ballad with warm vocal, flute and acoustic guitar), Black Capricorn Fire (swinging with swirling flute traverse) and The Court Of The Satyr (a delicate classical guitar piece). And second Wicked Minds blend their sound with a wide range of vintage keyboards like the warm Solina string- ensemble (Witchflower and Black Capricorn Fire), the fat Moog synthesizer (Sad Woman and Soldier Of Fortune), the distinctive Fender Rhodes piano (Sad Woman) and the unsurpassed Mellotron (Scorpio Odeyssey). The highligths on this CD (12 songs, almost 80 minutes) are A Child And A Mirror (excellent Hammond work in a dreamy and bluesy atmosphere), Shadows Train (extensive, mindblowing Hammond solo), Sad Woman (exciting Moog explorations and a captivating blend of Fender Rhodes electric piano work and biting wah-wah guitar) and the final track Soldier Of Fortune (a tasteful ballad with a Lucky Man-inspired Moog solo, a sensitive guitar solo and a great, bombastic final part with powerful saxophone play). The DVD showcases this dynamic and exciting band on an Italian festival in 2004 (Tendenze) and a Belgian festival in 2005 (Spirit Of 66, Verviers), enjoy Wicked Minds their inspired live act and the strong cover of Uriah Heep's song Gypsy, say no more!

Deep Heep and Whitesnake love child

Wicked Minds is an Italian heavy rock band doing the retro thing in a big way, obviously their heroes are Deep Purple, Uriah Heep, Sabbath, and Zeppelin. They are playing to a fan base looking to recreate the glory days of 70s guitar rock. Sometimes I enjoy bands in this vein such as Gov't Mule who in the Allen Woody days were capable of doing some sincere homage to the Allman Brother Band and creating a scene in their own right. Even Dark Star Orchestra as a cover band are so good they make me forget the material is not their own. Wicked Minds do a reasonable job of touching on Purple and Heep, they occasionally visit Tull as well. They achieve some nice jams but unless you really get off on such obvious retro hard rock you would be so much better off just hunting down the real thing which is always going to be preferable. "Burning Tree" is a good track with acoustic and flute employed to haunting ends but it's a brief respite from the whole David Coverdale vibe. To be fair though I have to say that if you do enjoy the thought of an updated Purple sound you may really like this, but I don't think the material is as strong as even 80s fare like "Perfect Strangers." It's not awful stuff but it's not mind-blowing either, just raw, bluesy, and rather predictable for prog fans. For Wicked Minds fans this is a nice package though. It comes with a DVD that features several videos, excerpts from two different live shows, and a "making of" featurette. The "Purple Skies" video features a couple of delightful young ladies getting to know each other in a most personal way mixed with footage of the band jamming.now that's rock and roll!!

These wicked minds released a great heavy rock album for their (almost) debut. It was called From The Purple Skies but it was totally Heep oriented. The result was an excellent album which I even rated with five stars (and you might know that I don't use this rating frequently - five % of my reviews actually).

On this one, they are more heading towards Purple. This is especially true during the wild opener Through My Life: this is an electrifying song which introduces you perfectly in their musical world: seventies vintage hard-rock. And, yes, I still like this.

There are also some rock ballads on Witchflower (this aspect was just ignored on their debut). Although it might be a good idea to do so, this band is more convincing while they just rock like hell. Both aspects are present during A Child & A Mirror which starts kicking at half time. But then, be prepared for an explosion for a minute or so. The delicate keyboard opening is fully Lord inspired (Jon, I mean).

Mighty Heep is not forgotten of course. The title track and especially Here Comes The King reminds us this great band. Super-fast beat (remember Easy Livin?), strong bass and wild sound overall. Fasten your seat belt!

The long Before The Morning Light is an average slower beat heavy song but thanks to a really emotional guitar solo (thanks Lucio Calegari) it is somewhat saved. Some sweeter moment during the acoustic and mellow Burning Tree will introduce you to some more Heep material (Shadows Train). Very heavy organ, powerful bass and eccentric drumming are the cocktail.

The jazzy Black Capricorn Fire almost starts as Lazy (another jazzy one) and offers some contrast with the other songs of this ultra long album (almost eighty minutes). Some fluting is available for a change, which provides some Tull feeling (this is welcome as well of course) but this song changes too many times from style and is not very cohesive as a whole. The mix between symphonic and heavy is not too bad though.

It is maybe a preview for their next album, who knows: Sad Woman has severe accents of Sabbath. I have to say that by this time, this album sounds a bit too much for me.

While I could be enthusiast over their previous recording, things are not quite as good here. The album is also much too long, which ends up with some dull feeling. Scorpio Odyssey is the longest track from Witchflower: it is a mix between Mark I (vocals), doom metal and fine fluting. Another formidable guitar break comes at the rescue as well. Very emotional again. The closing part is fully Van Der Graaf oriented (the sax is of course not alien to the feeling).

Their cover of Soldier Of Fortune is not bad, but frankly, this is not the most representative Purple song out there. I would have prefer to get Speed King for instance. It would have suited the style of Wicked Minds much better. But Lucio Calegari is again phenomenal during his solo. While the previous album was more keyboards oriented, this one opens the way for more guitar.

As you can see, the band tried to open their horizon to other giants of the seventies. It leads to some hectic moments and my overall feeling is a bit of a deception. This is a good derivative heavy album, while Purple. was a great one. Three stars.

Well I don't think this is nearly as good as "From The Purple Skies" but if you like how that sounded chances are you'll like this one too. The heavy Hammond organ is more dominant on this one, while the guitar is less so. To me that's the biggest difference between the two although I think the former has better songs on it too. Another long one at almost 79 minutes.

"Through My Love" opens with drums as organ and then heavy guitar comes in. Vocals before a minute. Ripping guitar solo before 3 1/2 minutes.The organ follows suit a minute later. "Witchflower" opens with reserved vocals, flute and floating organ. It then kicks in heavily as contrasts continue.The guitar sounds great after 2 1/2 minutes. "A Child And A Mirror" opens with organ before piano takes over then the vocals arrive. It kicks in before 2 minutes as contrasts continue. Some killer guitar and organ later. "Here Comes The King" is an uptempo rocker with vocals. "Before The Morning Light" opens with synths and mellotron before heavy drums come in. Solo guitar before a minute then everyone joins in. Check out the organ and guitar 3 minutes in and later after 6 minutes. "Burning Tree" is mellow with acoustic guitar, flute and reserved vocals.

"Shadow's Train" opens with heavy organ then vocals as a full sound follows. This one is all about the Hammond. "Black Capricorn Fire" is different from the rest. Organ, drums and flute as vocals join in. Some pleasant guitar too. Kind of catchy without those heavy organ runs they usually use. "The Court Of The Satyr" features solo acoustic guitar throughout. "Sad Woman" is one of my favourites. This one just kills. Spacey yet intense to open. It kicks in heavily around a minute. Raw guitar then the vocals come in. Not a fan of the chorus though as it reminds me of how they usually sound on this album (which is good just not great). Back to that heavy guitar and rough vocals. Nice. It ends as it began. It blends into "Scorpio Odyssey" then guitar and vocal melodies come in. It's dark then vocals and light drums take over. Flute before 2 minutes. "Soldier Of Fortune" is a DEEP PURPLE cover which I could have done without.

3.5 stars. I had a lot of fun with this. Some fantastic moments on this album.