When they were first formed a few years ago, Seven Witches were just a typical American heavy/power metal act. They gained popularity not exactly for their musical achievements but because their guitarist, Jack Frost, joined Savatage in replacement of Mr. Al Pitrelli. Later on they hired Wade Black, the guy who had contributed his vocals to Crimson Glory's decent come-back album, Astronomica.
All the above, however, would mean absolutely nothing if their compositions were mediocre. And, believe me, they are anything but that; for those of you who have listened  to Seven Witches' previous albums, all I can say is that Xiled... is far and away better. It is a powerful album with aggressive sound, sharp riffs, awesome guitar work and a strong, firm rhythm section. As for the vocals, we can notice some improvement too, as Black has a big vocal range and he is quite satisfactory when he hits the high octaves. Although some fans had questioned his value when he was in Crimson Glory, I believe that happened only because his predecessor, Midnight, had the upper hand when it came down to the (inevitable) comparison.
The quality of the songs only varies from good to very good, keeping the listener's interest until the last note. I particularly liked the title track, which has almost everything- a beautiful acoustic intro that leads to an extremely catchy riff, and a superb rhythm...surely one of the best songs I have listened to for a long time.
The participation of Jon Oliva and Joe Comeau add some more points to the final result. Oliva has co-written and sung one song (The Burning), while Comeau's voice is heard in the excellent cover version of Grim Reaper's See You In Hell that concludes the CD.
Overall, an outstanding release, and I am sure we can expect a lot from this band in the future.