Friday, May 6, The Hell Hath No Fury tour featuring The Iron Maidens and Burning Witches stopped at the Blue Note in Harrison, Ohio. The crowd was hot and rabid for the all-female touring package along with support from 13:30.
While the California Maidens headlined the evening the witches made their second stop in America, playing with the fire and fury of one of their sisters at the stake, As vocalist…. joked mid-set, with a wink, we are witches and are much older than we look. They definitely had youth on their side performing with the speed of spell binding light, the stage resembling a lighting storm during the first couple tunes.
Support came from area cover masters 13:30 with a diverse and impressive list of tunes, rarely heard in the same set. How often do you hear Megadeth, Temple of the Dog, Zeppelin, Soundgarden, The Cult and Metallica in the same hour? Band members hit Chris Cornell’s range on “Hunger Strike,” with a nice mixture of metal and grunge to start the evening.
The Iron Maidens headlined with a unique set of modern, new, classic and deep cuts. It was the hit-laden set of previous shows or tours but a nice mix for every level of fan devotion. Even a Blaze Bayley era choice, while Eddie made an appearance or two with Number of the Beast, Somewhere In Time and Powerslave represented among others.
The Witches stage was an eye-popping artistic canvas of forest dwelling creatures and sea-going ships. A beautiful and beastly background, tailor made for the Swiss ladies. The heretical five-piece were dressed to kill sporting war gear to plunder. The names burned in the book for eternity included vocalist Laura Guldemond, drummer Lala Frischknecht, bassist Jay Grob and guitarists Romana Kalkuhl and Larissa Ernst.
Guldemond took the stage, stalking like a wide-eyed predator ready to win over American ears, eyes hearts and possibly take a few souls prisoner.
Their 10-song show was a wild whirlwind on a metal studded broomstick. A few tunes from Dance with the Devil, a few from new record Witch of the North and a classic from Hexenhammer.
War-painted and ready for loud ritual, they quickly went to work playing with hair flying at kick drum speed. Possessed by the lights and riffs, they headbanged, wind-milling like their life depended on it. The stage air was perpetually whiplashed by flashing razor speed locks as the blistering chugger-naught “Executed” started the show. They weren’t painkilling, though the melodic “Wings of Steel” rose with a dramatic screaming roar.
They danced with the dark one, stoking the flames to the skies on angelic deliver wings.
“Lucid Nightmare” crawled out of the speakers with smoke-like claws attacking senses. “The Witch of the North” took Harrison to the wintery woodshed and back lit forest fire like a seductive, spellbinding gem.
A vintage visage came with the riffing bludgeon of “Hexenhammer.” They saved the most vicious for last with the diabolic screech of the “Black Widow,” ending with Salem-inspired torched riffage as the crowd yelled, burn the witch!
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