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BURNING WITCHES, LABYRINTH, MEMORY In Houston, TX With Photos!

By Larry Petro, News Monkey
Tuesday, November 19, 2024 @ 6:30 PM

The Dark US Tour Lands At Warehouse Live Midtown On November 11th

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All Photos By Larry Petro/Petrofyed Photography

Female Swiss metallers BURNING WITCHES have certainly been making waves on the metal scene as of late. Even though the band has been around since around 2016 their trajectory has really taken a climb with their last few albums beginning with 2020's Dance With The Devil, The Witch Of The North (2021) and their most recent release, The Dark Tower. With power metal grooves and bewitching songs (see what I did there?), they've gained legions of new fans over the course of the past year especially with opening slots on tours with THE IRON MAIDENS and KK'S PRIEST in the States earlier this year. They finished off ravaging the US with their first-ever headline run, a 3 week string of shows across the south. The show rolled into Houston on Monday night, November 11th and while 'summer' was finally on its way out of the area BURNING WITCHES made sure to heat things up one last time.

The support act for about half of the tour was Sacramento's own GRAVESHADOW, another solid metal band in its own right but alas, their shows with the WITCHES ended about a week before the H-Town stop. What we did get for openers here was a couple of local acts in the form of MEMORY and LABYRINTH, not to be confused with the Italian power metal band with the same name. First up was MEMORY, a fairly new grouping of musicians since 2023 but certainly not lacking in talent and skill. Comprised of vocalist Donnie Sage, guitarist Wade Laycook, bassist Joshua Touchstone and drummer Boz Miller, this quartet was more than up to the challenge of opening. I have known about these guys for some time through conversations with Wade Laycook going back to before the band was even formed. And though I'd been invited to check them out on several occasions I don't get out much to see/cover local bands and so never had the chance. It was quite a pleasant surprise to show up to the show and see that they were on the bill. With tracks like "Fire of Truth" and "Far From Home" they got the crowd primed and ready for what was to come. A great band, check 'em out if you dare.

https://memoryofficial.com/
https://www.facebook.com/MemoryTXOfficial/

Up next was Houston thrashers LABYRINTH and these guys definitely brought the evening's dose of thrash. Also a relatively newer act, they've been around since 2021 and have released a demo Inside/Outside and an EP this year, Unforeseen Consequences. LABYRINTH is influenced and emulates the early thrash years from '83-'94 and also did a solid number on those in attendance. The band, guitarist CJ Ackerman, vocalist/guitarist Jorge Montano, bassist Matt Cavazos and drummer Humberto Rodriguez, have come a long ways themselves, sharing the stage with such bands as D.R.I, DEICIDE, EXMORTUS, BRUJERIA and even ARMORED SAINT to name but a few. The band shredded their way through a nice 7 song set starting with "Insanity...Normal State" and ending with Endless Cycle", with numbers like "Tortured" and "The Prophet Of Time" also thrown in for good measure.

If good, classic, old school thrash metal is your thing then give these guys a listen!

https://www.facebook.com/labyrinthrash/
https://www.instagram.com/labyrinthrash/

Setlist:

"Insanity...Normal State"

"The Fight"

"Tortured"

"Questionable Ethics"

"The Prophet Of Time"

"Piranha"

"Endless Cycle"

And finally it was time for BURNING WITCHES. Even though it was a Monday night and the crowd was a bit sparse it didn't matter to these ladies, they came to rock and rock they did! IF you've already heard their music or seem them live then you know what I'm talking about! Now led by the uber-witchy temptress Laura Guldemond and flanked by guitarist and founder Roman Kalkuhl, bassist Jay Grob and drummer Lala Frischnecht, the band solidified its lineup further with the addition of guitarist Courtney Cox, former axe slinger for THE IRON MAIDENS, and boy are they just plain good!

In an appropriate nod, they 'unleashed' their fiery set upon Houston with "Unleash The Beast", a track from their latest album The Dark Tower, one of three songs they would include from the 2023 opus. There were no ballads here, no sir, just solid in-your-face metal. The band's 202 album Dance With The Devil was featured prominently here with 5 numbers being performed, notably "Wings of Steel", "Sea Of Lies" and the album's title track. The band was on fire and devilishly good as frontwoman Guldemond was all smiles as she exhorted the crowd to pump their fists and bang their heads. The guitar duo of Cox and Kalkuhl were masterful as they performed their parts with ease and gracefulness, as much as could be while pummeling us with their metal riffs. The metal was aplenty with such song titles as "The Dark Tower", "Hexenhammer" and personal favorite, "Flight Of The Valkyries", before finishing off the crowd with their namesake track, "Burning Witches". The only downside was that from my vantage point there were 4 additional songs on the setlist that were marked off including what would have been the closer, a cover of DIO's "Holy Diver".