Maybe it’s the ex-Catholic or lawyer in me, or maybe it’s the fact that I hide parts of myself to the world, but I’ve always admired the concept of witches throughout history. We aim to blame someone else for our misfortunes, and it’s traditionally been very easy to look to—and down upon—women. To be fair, witches can be all genders, though, there’s always been a connection between fierce femininity and witchcraft/heresy. Not that you should listen to a white man too closely when he waxes poetic about witches, but the pillar of any coven isn’t whatever dark arts they perform or the black cats that tend to hang around (a purrfect bonus)—witches are defined by the connection they have to each other.
Switzerland’s reigning heavy metal heroines Burning Witches understand this to their core, and that spirit of togetherness is at its heights in their fifth album – and first for new label Napalm Records—The Dark Tower, out May 5. Their brand of power/heavy-metal is both timeless and fierce, certainly bowing at the altar of Maiden and Priest, though there’s a clear thrash and punk element that feels more incorporated here than before. However, this style lives and breathes on its melodies and a thumping rhythm section, and that’s never sounded better than on The Dark Tower, named after the famous story of Elizabeth Bathory.
Any great coven requires the same two things any great relationships have—the joys of being together and the ability to challenge each other in the ways only you can. Drummer Lala Frischknecht sheds light on how that manifested itself for this record:
“Before we made (previous album) The Witch of the North, (guitarist) Romana (Kalkuhl) told me she wanted it to be epic as hell. So we did it. We did it because doing music, it doesn’t have to be always in the same style, or else it will sound monotonous, right? Do something special with the clash of your traditional way, so that’s what we made in Witch of the North. We did it in the (height of the) pandemic time, so all the focus is there. You couldn’t do anything. You’re not allowed to go out. So lyrically, it’s more, it’s deeper. And then, we were so busy in the whole year, European tour, Latin American tour, and some big festivals.”
“Romana is really a great songwriter,” she continues, “She had this great idea. Every time she sent me something, it makes me nervous. Just like when she sent something in this album from ‘The World on Fire.’ I said that she’s going to kill me on this, huh? It sounds like full song with a double bass. (She pushed me to try because she knew) I can do it. ‘It’s easy for you,’ she would say. And then what I learned in this album is (how well) we work together. If you make a song, and you make yourself as a star in the song, it doesn’t sound great. All the focus when you listen to a specific song, ‘Oh, this one is great. The drums are great.’ No, you have to listen to the whole thing there, how they play together. And this album, I think we did it pretty good.”
That backbone is, was, and ever shall be about the band as a connected group, not a series of individuals. She concurs:
“I think if we make a song, it also reflects us, about the friendship. We’re not treating each other like business. If we don’t see each other for a week, it feels like (it’s been) a month. It’s just like the bonding itself; the friendship is there and how you connect to each other. I think it’s the most important thing in the band, not only musicianship, because no matter how good you are, if you have a bad part of that, and you don’t agree to each other or you don’t learn from each other, I think it does not work.”
And what is Frischknecht’s hilarious take on drum solos?
“No, I don’t want to be a star. Come on. Fuck the drum solo, really. I hate it. I hate to be like everybody was looking at you because nobody’s there in the stage. And then if you make one mistake… Yeah, I would not do that. Because as a drummer, I’m used to being in the back. You just hear me. Sometimes you don’t see me. I’m invisible because I’m so small in the drums. Sometimes you only see my forehead.”
Photo courtesy of Burning Witches
