Remastered re-release with 7 bonus tracks
- Bonus tracks 9-15 are unreleased demo tracks from 1984
Axewitch jazz things up a bit more (not literally) with their second full-lengther where over the year they seem to generate some juice that’s a few volts hotter than those that sparked their past two powerlines, however this mild, yet noteworthy surge doesn’t burn at the cost of upturned speed values, warmer intensity, or changes in songwriting style. Not really, and strangely as a result of, I dunno, what could be revised ideas and/or clearer thinking, Visions of the Past spins with what could be heard as updated veneer that will likely fall under natural progression, however at the same time one should wonder if metal’s ’83 and ’84 winds of change blew the siding off the five-piece’s pre-’82 house which, by The Lord of Flies, had started to seem kinda dilapidated.
Whatever the reason, the unperturbed roster of Micke, Mange, Wallen, Matte, and Tommy unite once again and this time push more metal dynamic into the daylight that, up until now, had mostly been sheltered by the large hard rock outcropping that has been the band’s balcony since birth. Shove marks made in the gravel by the burly “Give Them Hell”, double bass-rumbled slabs in “Time to Live” and “Stand Up”, proud “Tonight”, and the opening title cut are evidence that Axewitch exuded at least perceptible effort to further burnish their reflective surfaces not unlike same year shiners from Quartz and Battleaxe, surfaces that were always there, hazily, as if smeared with white liquid wax, then neglected for the pouring of concrete.
Even the stony floors of “Born in Hell” and “Hot Lady” as well as jagged edges of “Time to Live” and “Stand Up” have a less morose and brighter climate compared to the band’s prior weather, which could come from the continued half notch or so jazz-up by another Decibel Studio production. Alas, despite what rises somewhere above the mark here, the album’s longest vision is also its weakest. “Heading up a Storm” is a half-ballad that meanders a bit near the start with a story predictably soft and serene, then just as predictably finds a hardened pace, then backtracks to stroll in place by retracing its similar cushion-soled footsteps. Luckily, complacency is blown to the side as it builds some fairly dramatic ‘the power in power ballad’ traction that hoofs it across a finish line that by the end was thirsty for turbulence.
The band’s known songwriting blueprint hasn’t really changed too noticeably since their inception, yet here the rock-to-metal ratio slides happily toward the latter, leveling off on more even terrain where the listener can feel like she’s treading forward through mid-‘80s calendar pages instead of being trapped on one in ’82. A listener could feel this way, or she could know for a fact the wind pushing against her blows in from a more metal-rampant ’84, and despite valiantly trudging forward through the same wind, Visions of the Past could still kinda sound a few gusts behind the times.
My customary research shows Visions of the Past landed at #12 on the Swedish hard rock charts with additional licensing through Neat Records in the U.K., Roadrunner in Europe, and Banzai in Canada. Combine that with the #7 placings of the Pray for Metal ep (beat out by Loverboy as well as everyone’s hard rock icon, Michael Bolton) and The Lord of Flies and we get an act that not only should have been, but still should be contenders to royalty that equals more than a runner-up ribbon from a tractor pull. Well, Axewitch’s (Axe Witch, Axewitch…I say screw the space) show isn’t over yet.
Sample:
