I have found about WITCH CROSS recently with the last year re-release of their 1984 album "Fit for Fight" which was a honest dose of Heavy Metal. The band didn't have any full release other than that album and a handful of demos until this year. "Axe To Grind" their second album thirty years after the first one. From the first album's line up only guitarist Mike Kock and Jan Normark remain while Lars Bjornstad was on the drums of the band's first demo. Of the other band members only Kevin Moore is notable of OLIVER / DAWSON SAXON fame who has the difficult task to step on Alex Nyborg's very characteristic vocals.

"Axe To Grind" contains eleven tracks of which the first and the last are intros and the homonymous track is instrumental. The remaining songs are containing fair doses of heavy/epic metal and but the songs seem to suffer here and there, either from obvious repetition of famous metal riffs or weak compositions. The intro of the record is indifferent but leads into the very good "Demon In The Mirror". "Ride With The Wind" and "Lost without Warning" are balancing between heavy metal and power/epic sound but the first one is a blunt copy of the Future World by PRETTY MAIDS. "Chelsea 100" has some very cool music but I can hardly find any meaning in its lyrics. All in all as I try to find good things in the songs I also found things that I do not like.

Compared to the first record the major difference that I have spotted is the vocals. Kevin Moore is doing a great job but his voice is more "evil" compared to the voice of Alex Nyborg which was very soothing and made each song very special. The mix of the record is handled by the famous Chris Tsangarides and the mastering by Flemming Rasmussen (sometimes the names are not enough) but it feels rather flat, especially on the drums. The rest of the band is having a great performance but composition-wise as I said the record is having a lot of flaws. WITCH CROSS new album leaves me with mixed feelings. I think that the new album doesn't stand to the quality of the band's first album. However the fans of heavy metal should take a look at it.