Visigoth: Final Spell

Originally released in 2012, Final Spell is the debut EP from Salt Lake City, UT-based traditional metal band Visigoth, one of the most exciting and promising new bands in the so-called New Wave of Traditional Metal scene. The band was made a big impact with their full-length debut on the Metal Blade label last year (the excellent The Revenant King), but even before that they were making killer metal songs.

Final Spell is nothing short of everything that’s great about traditional heavy metal. Think early Angel Witch, newer Twisted Tower Dire and lots of Riot. Visigoth has a great melodic approach, but with plenty of heaviness, and vocalist Jake Rogers has a ton of power and range. There are only four songs on Final Spell, but they’re all fantastic, capturing the classic heavy metal sound as well as a great modern energy and spirit. “Creature of Desire” and “Final Spell” bring to mind classic NWOBHM, “Seven Golden Keys” is a heavier, Atlantean Kodex meets Manilla Road number, and closing track “Call of the Road” is as classic a headbanging anthem as you’ll ever hear.

If you love heavy metal, you need to get this. It’s just that simple. And if you already get into bands like Widow, Volture, Night Demon, Borrowed Time and the like, there’s really no excuse for not owning this one. You’re going to kick yourself for waiting this long to check them out.

Reissue Notes: Final Spell was initially released on vinyl, cassette and a band-released CD-R. The Swords & Chains label issued a proper CD version of Final Spell earlier this year. It’s limited to 1,000 copies and is a basic, no-frills release that unfortunately does not include the band’s 2010 Vengeance demo material that was on the label’s cassette release of Final Spell. Still, it’s nice to have an official CD release of this killer EP.

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