Stormwitch Revisited

The new digipak edition of "Witchcraft" includes a bonus track and is limited to 2000 copies. Remastered using tube technology, digitally edited on a golden disc. The release date is set up for 11th October in Europe and 7th December in USA (via MVD).

Here is the official word: Stormwitch are next to Helloween the biggest German heavy metal legend ever to walk this planet. Their career started in the 80's with a string of successful albums and lasted until 1994, when the group disbanded due to personal differences. Fortunately, Stormwitch returned in 2002 with a new line-up and a new album, "Dance with the Witches". Two years later the band released "Witchcraft" � one of their finest works yet.

The group was originally formed in 1979 in Heidenheim, Baden W�rttemberg, Germany by vocalist Andy M�ck and guitarists Harald Spencer (aka Lee Tarot) and Stefan Kaufmann (Steve Merchant). Bassist Ronny "Pearson" Gleisberg and drummer Peter "Lancer" Langer joined the band in 1983. The band officially debuted in 1984 on the "1. Rock-Fabrik Festival '84" live compilation album (where they played along Restless, Tyran's Pace and Cacumen). In the same year Stormwitch managed to release their stellar debut LP � "Walpurgis Night" � which became an instant success and gathered great opinions from both critics and fans. The following years brought more great albums, all considered today as metal classics: "Tales of Terror" (1985), "Stronger Than Heaven" (1986), "The Beauty and the Beast" (1987) and "Eye of the Storm" (1989). The 1990's brought some significant line-up changes, as both original guitarists decided to quit the band. The group carried on with new musicians and recorded two more LPs � "War of the Wizards" (1992) and "Shogun" (1994) � until finally disbanding by the end of 1994.

Even though Stormwitch officially ceased to exist, their name was still present on the metal scene. Cover versions of their songs were included on albums by White Skull ("Tears by the Firelight" from "The Beauty and the Beast") and Hammerfall ("Ravenlord" from "Stronger Than Heaven"), and a compilation album of Stormwitch's best songs from their first three LPs was released in 1998, bearing the title "Priest of Evil". In 2002 Andy M�ck decided to reform the band after he wrote the song "Dance with the Witches" for a faithful fan. Stormwitch officially returned to the metal world on August 5th with the release of their eighth album which was named after the track that brought the group back to life - "Dance with the Witches". In November 2004 Stormwitch released their ninth LP entitled "Witchcraft". The album delivered twelve amazing tracks capturing all the best elements of heavy metal, power metal and even hard rock. "Witchcraft" offered a lot of diversity, introducing some faster, almost speed-metal tracks like "Puppets in a Play" and "At the Break of this Day", straight-forward rockers such as "Frankenstein's Brothers" and "Kiss of Death", and even an impressive power metal ballad � "Sleeping Beauty". Two songs on the album ("Moonfleet" and "Fallen From God") featured additional female vocals, which only strengthened the gloomy, disturbing atmosphere of the LP. The mood was also built by the lyrics, which mixed gothic horror stories with sinister love tales and even some religious themes (like in the opener "Sinister Child" which portrays the birth of Jesus) and, of course � witches! This is an absolute must-have for all fans of true, powerful heavy metal!