Stormwitch - Stronger Than Heaven (1986)^{Release ID: 8016}

I first encountered German heavy metallers Stormwitch during my research for the Metal Academy podcast back in the mid-2010’s with their 1984 debut album “Walpurgis Night” being the release in question. It wasn’t awful but didn’t offer much more than poorly produced & executed NWOBHM worship, often crossing the line into Iron Maiden plagiarism at times. I got the feeling that the best may yet to come from Stormwitch though, particularly given the consistent praise I'd seen dished out for their 1986 third album “Stronger Than Heaven”, so I penciled it in as one to investigate in the future. That future may have ended up being many years later but here we are. Let’s see what Stormwitch at the peak of their powers sounds like, shall we?

Well, the production job is certainly better than the crude, distortion-drenched debut which is certainly a positive but the music is still pretty unintimidating & melodic, a little too much for my taste to tell you the truth. It’s a very German record in that regard. The Maiden worship is still present but it’s been toned down a little & we’re starting to hear the building blocks of the European power metal movement with some almost poppy choruses & a focus on a more epic atmosphere creeping in at times. That may mean that Stormwitch are starting to mature & find their own sound but they’re also drawing a little further away from my taste profile & I have to say that I preferred it when they were simply copying their NWOBHM idols if I’m being completely transparent.

The lead guitar work has improved remarkably in the two years since the debut as we now see Lee Tarot pulling off some much flashier solos that often represent the high points of some of the songs. Front man Andy Aldrian is serviceable enough but I still can’t say that I see him competing with the big boys of the heavy metal genre. He’s certainly got enough chops to pull off a memorable chorus or two though. The problem is that there aren’t very many decent ones here with album highlight “Slave To Moonlight” being the only one of the eight tracks with strong enough song-writing to see him being given the chance. The rest of the album simply falls a bit flat without ever descending into the genuinely horrible. Some tracks ruin some solid lead-up work with a dull chorus while others simply veer too close to power metal excess for me to really take seriously.

I’m surprised at just how popular “Stronger Than Heaven” is to be honest, especially given just how awful it’s front cover is. I can only imagine that it’s received more attention than it’s worth due to it’s influence on the early German power metal scene. I haven’t read anywhere that that was the case though. It’s just a hunch I’ve got as the band’s sound seems to possess many of the traits that we’d see popping up from Stormwitch’s countrymen in the coming years. It’s far too clean-cut an album for my taste though & if pushed I’d probably take “Walpurgis Night” over it which isn’t much of an endorsement for its quality & appeal. I'm sure that fans of bands like Sortilege, Oz & Running Wild will likely disagree with me though so if that sounds like you then you may find a lot more appeal in "Stronger Than Heaven" than I have.