Uncut Gems
The fact that Demon Bitch and Borrowed Time (rest in peace) are assuredly the best American heavy metal bands of their era is a secret that more people should know. White Magician released one of the best albums of 2020 and their buddies of Prelude to Ruin are planning a release for 2021 (if my insider information is to be trusted) and both of those projects are related to the aforementioned bands. They happened to have released a split album back in 2018 and it’s pure fire. You shouldn’t expect otherwise if you were familiar with the people behind those bands.
White
Magician is the entire Demon Bitch lineup except Brian, their
bassist. Some of them play a different role here though, like Logon
who plays bass or Derek who’s also tasked with the lead vocals in
addition to his guitar task. While Demon Bitch play a super unhinged
and insane sort of heavy metal, their other project leans more on
pure traditionalism and is more Blue
Öyster Cult than Mercyful Fate. One of
things that I always like about the way those Detroit fellas write
songs is that it’s completely devoid of posturing or attempts at
mimicking the greats. It’s like if it was written in space with the
distant memories of the bands they liked when they were still on
Earth like the rest of us. Their ten minutes side starts with The
Great Kaiser’s White Magician, an allegedly different entity, doing
a two minutes introduction. It’s a high pitched guitar lead
repeated alongside the name of the project and it’s, I have no idea
why, fantastic. The bulk of their split side is obviously the track
“Antipathy”, originally recorded in 2017 but re-recorded here.
It’s a multidimensional epic showcasing everything the band can do.
From the soft, almost 1970s Rush introduction to the agile, always
pertinent riffs, the song is like a crescendo towards joyfully
exuberant guitar leads concluding its eight minutes run-time. Like
Demon Bitch, their guitar leads are great and always well placed and
needed. They’re like icy daggers entering softly but firmly your
body.
Their debut full length“ Dealers of Divinity”
leaned even more into hard rock but the foundations were built before
as White Magician are really great at crossing the line between rock
and metal several times per song. While, without a doubt, they’re a
metal band, they don’t burden themselves too much with that fact.
The vocals are well thought out, melodic and powerful in their own
ways. They don’t really strike me as metal vocals, the way they’re
written is but the delivery is subdued, subtle and very interesting.
Antipathy is an outstanding track, it’s as strong as anything
they’ve released so far.
Prelude to Ruin is the new (or old) project formed by the Ruiz brothers who were both in Borrowed Time. I’m not totally sure who’s on this release except Victor and David Ruiz but nowadays, they’re joined by guitarist Matt Preston (Borrowed Time, Dungeon Beast, The Swill…) and other members of Borrowed Time, Demon Bitch/White Magician. It’s an incestuous family but… for the right reasons!
We’re
served two relatively fast paced numbers with strong melodies and
blistering guitar riffs. More rooted in power and even speedier metal
than Borrowed Time were, there’s an almost epic power metal feel
throughout the first song “Weird of the White Wolf”. They’re in
that zone where USPM meets European power metal. Where the robust
riffs of Liege Lord would hangout with the pre-symphonic ballsy power
metal of Blind Guardian. Prelude to Ruin are the kind of band that
heavy metal guitars fans want to hear. Their leads are oozing with
skills, passion and thundering might. They’re the clear highlight
of their identity even though the rest is also
super
solid.
While
Jean-Pierre Abboud (vocals in Borrowed Time) is gone and there’s a
small
drop
in talent on the mic, it’s still pretty damn dynamic and enjoyable.
Speaking
of J-P, I’ve never liked him as much as I did when he played with
those guys, Traveler and Gatekeeper never used his skills as
well. I think that’s also a proof that the Ruiz bros are hella good
composers. The second song “One
More Fight” has shrill, weird vox in its beginning to surprising
but effective effects and
overall, the high-pitched vocals work well with the speed
demonstrated here. Unfortunately, the production is a bit too lo-fi
and muffled for those two songs to truly truly shine and hopefully,
this will be fixed for their upcoming material.
Overall this split release has two very strong sides with two bands clearly in possession of immense heavy metal skills. They’re two of the brightest gems the US metal underground produced, don’t sleep on ‘em.
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