Witch Cross - Fit for Fight (1984)^{Release ID: 10232}

1984 saw the Danes starting to elaborate on the amazing contribution that Mercyful Fate had made to heavy metal with a few promising (if less substantial) offerings. Witch Cross would be one of the prominent representatives & they championed a more classic brand of heavy metal that steers well clear of the gloss & frills that a band like Pretty Maids was pushing. They were a five-piece outfit who hailed from the city of Kobenhavn which is the very same city that spawned King Diamond & his cronies.

Witch Cross first formed way back in 1979 so it took them a full five years to get their debut studio album “Fit For Fight” onto the shelves following a couple of demos & a 7” single. And sadly, it would prove to be the band’s ONLY major release for almost 30 YEARS as Witch Cross are yet another one of those underground European bands that have jumped on the reformation bandwagon in recent times. And when you think about it, it’s not terribly surprising as, much like countrymen Pretty Maids' "Red, Hot & Heavy" debut from the same year, this release has gone on to become one of the elite examples of the classic heavy metal sound to come out of Denmark. If anything though, this might be a good representation of just how scarce quality heavy metal has been in the country because this is not a classic release by any stretch of the imagination. Enjoyable… sure… but nothing terribly special.

For starters, the production quality is very poor & you’d really struggle to differentiate this from the myriad of underground NWOBHM 7” singles that had flooded the market in the previous few years. It’s got that authentic early 80’s feel that, despite it’s primitive nature, seems to have an endearing quality that makes what might seem like a shitty production on the surface strangely morph into a more appealing result. I have to admit that I kinda fall for it in a way & I’m not too sure how I would feel about the record if it had a more polished production job like Pretty Maids went for. This just seems to have some serious street cred going for it & I like that. There’s a thick layer of distortion sitting over the top of everything that saps some of the power out of the band but it doesn’t manage to restrain the raw energy of Witch Cross who seem to have a very good understanding of the ins & outs of making decent NWOBHM style heavy metal.

It’s often easy to discount the level of musicianship on records like this. When the production sounds this shitty I often see people tending to overlook that element of the band & assume that the musicians skills are also primitive but that’s not always the case; as witnessed here. These guys can all play their instruments with the lead guitarists & vocalist being particularly capable. In fact, the guitar solos & the performance of front man Alex Savage are the clear highlights of the album & they manage to overcome some inconsistent song-writing to make this a worthwhile listen for old metalheads like me. Alex possesses some serious talent & his higher register delivery is quite distinctive in the way it cuts through the mix & soars over the top of the instrumentalists. I’ve often read people comparing him to Riot’s Tony Moore but there’s a little bit of Deep Purple’s Ian Gillan about him during his more operatic moments with a couple of his most extravagant screams drawing comparisons with Mercyful Fate’s King Diamond. But that’s not the only place I can hear a little Fate actually. The guitar solos really do seem to have a similar feel to the ones I loved so much on the early Fate releases & that could be related to the fact that “Fit For Fight” was recorded at Easy Sound Studios with producer Henrik Lund; the very same combination that produced those classic Mercyful Fate releases. It’s strange then that the rest of the production job sounds so sub-par though given the stature of the tools at the band’s disposal though. Oh well… I’m sure there’s a story of some sort behind that.

Musically, this is very much in line with the NWOBHM model of heavy metal & as with most New Wave releases there is a hard rock track included in the very ordinary “Rocking The Night Away” but the rest of the material leaves you under no misapprehensions that this is anything other than a pure metal release & it even touches of speed metal on occasion. The influence of bands like Iron Maiden & Judas Priest is very clear but I can also hear a fair bit of US heavy metallers Riot as well as German hard rock legends Scorpions at times during the more commercially focused moments.

I like the band’s sound & concept quite a lot but unfortunately the inconsistent song-writing leaves “Fit For Fight” just creeping over the line in the end. The strength of the highlight tracks is barely able to hold on following some of the simpler & more generic sounding tracks. Sadly, this would be the last time we'd hear from frontman Alex Savage. He went on to join a Led Zeppelin cover band after his time in Witch Cross & didn’t appear in the reunited version of the band which is a bit of a shame.