Label: Reaper Entertainment

Genre: Heavy Metal

Release Date EU: August 16th, 2024

Tracklist:

01. Feel The Curse
02. Angel Demon
03. Spellbound By Her Eyes
04. Dr. Evil?
05. Lords Of Darkness
06. Kiss Or Kill
07. On Wings Of Serpent Dreams
08. Dead Without A Grave

In Germany rock festivals are quite huge, and there are a lot of them organised throughout the country, especially during the summer. One of them is the well-known SUMMER BREEZE FESTIVAL, which was originally started by drummer ACHIM OSTERTAG in order to have his own band VOODOO KISS on stage of a big festival. Eventually, the festival became Achim’s baby, and the band split up until a few years ago when VOODOO KISS came back to life and recorded their self-titled debut album.

2 years later the band releases their 2nd comeback album in the shape of Feel The Curse. I received a lovely red colored vinyl edition of the album, which comes in a gatefold cover that includes the much-needed information on the recordings, the lyrics of the songs and the band’s line-up as well as a picture of the band and the cool cartoon artwork that is all a great pleasure for the eyes while listening to the music. 8 songs are included in total, and opener and titletrack Feel The Curse is a very catchy uptempo 80s influenced melodic heavy rocker in the style of AXXIS, V2, VICTORY, VOODOO CIRCLE and such classic German Melodic Hardrockbands. It’s like we’re back in 1985, yet VOODOO KISS does not sound dated at all, because especially due to the shared vocals of Gerrit Mutz (SACRED STEEL) and Steffi Stuber (MISSION IN BLACK) and the huge production of their new album, the band sounds traditional, but clearly a band of the modern age. The other 2 members of the band are by the way guitarist MARTIN BEUTHER and bassist KLAUS WEILAND. The album’s songs are actually based on a concept kinda story about the character Dr. Evil, who wants to create a Bride of Frankenstein for himself. Other highlights on their new album are the catchy AXXIS/ANGEL HEART/STORMWITCH ish uptempo melodic heavy rocker Spellbound By Her Eyes, the very early EDGUY/MAIDEN/HELLOWEEN orientated faster NWOBHM piece Dr. Evil and the superb strong uptempo melodic rocker Lords Of Darkness.

Concluded, this album might not be bringing anything new to the genre, but if you like classic traditional 80s German melodic heavy rock/metal with a touch of NWOBHM and some melodic hardrock influences, then this new VOODOO KISS album is definitely a recommend one to check out. Make sure to grab yourself a copy of the vinyl edition, because a lot of effort has been done to make it look absolutely perfect and I think they succeeded really well!