Cleopatra
2007
Songs For The Lost
About This Album
Even for a period in time when vintage/classic heavy metal is enjoying an evident worldwide renaissance, Pittsburgh's Icarus Witch delivered an emphatic vow of loyalty to "'the faith" with their retro-tastic first album, Capture the Magic; and there's thankfully no sign that they want to come back to the future anywhere on album number two, 2007's Songs for the Lost. Heck, even though it's positively drenched in Iron Maiden-isms (galloping bass, twin guitar lines, and singer Matthew Bizilia's obvious debt to Bruce Dickinson), "Out for Blood" is a dynamite opener that gives immediate notice of the group's successful escape from the feared sophomore slump -- a fact later confirmed by additional strong efforts like "Nature of the Beast," "Queen of Lies," and the improbable metal-prog-AOR hybrid "Afterlife." Well-placed synthesizers add welcome depth and texture to the rousing, classy "The Sky Is Falling" (one of several, slow-paced, but surprisingly effective numbers benefiting from stellar solos by new guitarist Quinn Lukas), and the string-laden conclusion of "Smoke and Mirrors" simply has to be one of the best trad metal ballads yet to emerge from the new millennium.
Track List (try tracks 1,4,6,8 and 9)

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.