MAGICK TOUCH is a Norwegian Heavy Metal/Hard Rock band and their second album, "Blades, Chains, Whips, & Fire," is one hell of an energetic rock and roll album.  It has throwbacks to the early days of what would become Metal, such as DEEP PURPLE or THIN LIZZY but it's wrapped up in a modern package.  As far as the production, it's a bit too modern; the guitars are way too loud in the mix and sometimes it a bit hard to make out the bass.  Production quibbles aside, this is a solid, if a big unoriginal, album that would be great to listen to while driving down the road with the windows down or maybe at a party.

HK and Ottensen both have crisp, clean vocals.  There isn't a lot of variety or range displayed but they definitely fit the style of the music; they definitely bring an infectious melody to the hard rock music.   Instrumental wise, the band pulls out all the stops and brings short, sweet, and catchy songs with a nice upbeat sound.  This is one of those albums that would probably put you in a good mood, if you were not in one.  "Under The Gun," opens with some unconventional guitar that turns into a decent mid paced riff that gives the song a good beat to play off of.  At under three minutes in length, and filled with a catchy solo and chorus, it's the perfect opener for the rest to come.

The third track, "Midnite Sadusa," is one of the best ones as it opens with a great straight up Heavy Metal riff, clearly inspired by DEEP PURPLE.  The song as a whole is bouncy and the mid section has one of the best solos on the album. The bass and drums take center stage on "After The Fire."  Both instruments lay a rock solid foundation that both carries and lifts the song, especially the drums that really compliment the chorus. The last, and title track, "Blades, Chains, Whips & Fire," changes things up quite a bit.  The temp is slowed down a bit and opens with a heavy handed guitar riff that has a bit of a sludge feel to it.  The whole song has a mysterious occult feel to it like BLUE OYSTER CULT.   It's the longest song at over six minutes and it fits a lot into it.  The mid section speeds up a lot and really reminds me of 80's thrash but it doesn't go overboard with it and sound out of place.

Unfortunately, this song stands out so well it makes the others not; by the end of this song, I was reminded how all the other tracks kind of sound the same.  If they incorporated more of the title track's music and themes then I could see myself enjoying this even more than I already do.