Two Witches

22/06/2014

 

Two Witches is a Finnish goth-rock band formed in 1987, one of the first of that genre in Finland. Founded by its current leader Jyrki “Witch” Virtanen and Anne Nurmi, the band is a true reference in the 90’s gothic Nordic scene. Using a lot of the vampire imagery and the Victorian dark tales, Two Witches themselves created a special place with their first true album, The Vampire’s Kiss, published in 1993 under the label Talitha Records.

 

Album line-up:

Jyrki Witch - Lyrics, male vocals.

Anne Nurmi - Keyboards, female vocals. (Now in the band Lacrimosa)

Nauku - Female vocals. (Now in the band Silene)

Toby - Guitars. (Now in the band Silene)

Bass and drums played by guest musicians, see the websites for more information.

 

The album begins with a keyboard song called “Agony”. This announces the dark and creepy themes that can be found on the album. Many sounds are used, and sometimes it’s a little too much to hear.

 

Distorted guitars are the beginning of “The Hungry Eyes”. This song is about a man imploring a vampire lady to become his beloved, with a reference to the Carmilla character from Sheridan Le Fanu’s book. The atmosphere in this song is really strange and Jyrki’s voice adds some more creepiness to it.

 

Next “The Omen” starts, and the keyboards immediately catch the attention. They set an interesting background, and the guitar follows it, giving some nice music. Jyrki’s singing goes pretty well on it. The Esperanto monologue said by Anne, gives a really good feeling to that song. Probably one of the best songs on the album.

 

A guitar intro announces “Dead Dog’s Howl”, and it’s quickly completed by the eerie keyboards and loud bass. It’s a nice song, but the vocals are barely audible, and the lyrics hard to understand.

 

Things speed up a bit with “Nightmare”. A nice rhythm settles after a few slow songs and it’s catchy. The keyboards are more quiet and this time you clearly hear the bass and guitar. A very good point for a very good song.

 

Naughty things coming! “Fetish Dreams” is indeed an explicit song. If we put the hot lyrics aside, we have a powerful and effective piece of music. Jyrki’s husky voice goes great with the music, along with Nauku’s clean vocals. Another really nice song, even if the lyrics could bother some people.

 

The creepy synths are back in “Mircalla”, along with very present bass and guitar, differently to the other songs. This time it’s a clear reference to Le Fanu’s vampire countess Carmilla. Again, Jyrki’s vocals seem not loud enough but Anne’s backing vocals give them more consistency. In the end, the music stays but the vocals don’t stay that much.

 

In the same outline comes “Winter”. A morbid ode to the coldness and depressing darkness of Finnish winter? We might not know. Again, it is the same as with “Mircalla”, except that the vocals grow louder as the songs plays. Is it done on purpose? Perhaps. This song isn’t bad but doesn’t mark memories.

 

A brand new rhythm is brought to us by the guitars in “Dreamworld”. It’s not slow, nor fast, just really nice. That husky male voice is to be found again along with the low vocals by Anne. We have an interesting song here, perhaps not the best but good enough to give a positive impression.

 

The first seconds of “Burn The Witch” can make us think of a ballad, but it’s not! Like the title shows, a song about heresy, blasphemy and witch burning. Jyrki’s and Nauku’s voices stand out nicely. Keyboards nicely go with the sung verses. It’s a nice song we have here, that announces the end of the album.

 

“Like Christopher Lee”, what a strange title isn’t it? We all know about Sir Christopher Lee, but why naming a ballad (here it is!) after him? Instruments are too quiet, except perhaps for the guitar in the end of the song. Jyrki and Anne sing together, even though Anne singing alone would’ve been better. This song doesn’t really have a place in this album, and doesn’t retain attention.

 

This first album reflects Two Witches early and unique style with its ups and downs. Some songs would’ve deserved to be more worked upon though. In the end it’s a nice album, a good listening idea for your solitary full moon nights.

 

PS: The booklet of this album is really nice! The lyrics are presented like little comics, drawn by Jyrki Witch himself, Toby, Petri Hiltunen and the mysterious Kivi. Really nice!