MAGICK TOUCH - Blades, Chains, Whips and Fire

Release date Jan 5/18 (Edged Circle)

An assessment of the sophomore release from Norway’s Magick Touch can be described through an analysis of the first five tracks (of ten). Opener ‘Under The Gun’ is an upbeat heavy metaller with a melodic chorus, followed by ‘The Great Escape’ which refers back to the stop/start riffing of the mighty Thin Lizzy. ‘Midnight Sadusa’ follows twisting The Nuge’s ‘Cat Scratch Fever’ main riff to its advantage. The radio friendly, uplifting hard rock of ‘Believe In Magick’ and the plodding metal of ‘Polonium Blues’ fills out the first five tracks. As you can discern, Magick Touch straddle the terrain between hard rock and heavy metal, likely due to the use of three song writers and two singers.

Despite the diversity of material, the release hangs together well due to the quality performances, catchy choruses and top-notch recording. Quite fun to listen to, but unlikely to make any major inroads given that this type of hybrid action isn’t exactly being clamoured for by the masses.

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