LIVE PHOTOS
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Review and photos by Greg Maki
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This show felt like a long time coming after the postponement of a fall 2025 U.S. tour due to visa issues, and the five women of Burning Witches ensured it was worth the wait for the faithful who came out to this strange little venue in historic, downtown Annapolis. With a small stage and tables and chairs filling the room’s close quarters, Rams Head on Stage has the aesthetics of a comedy club, but Burning Witches had no trouble turning it into a heavy metal battlefield for 85 glorious minutes.
With no opening act, the band took the stage promptly at 8 p.m. and kicked things off with “Soul Eater,” the first of four selections from last year’s “Inquisition” album. The 15-song set touched on all six Burning Witches full-lengths, with highlights including “The Dark Tower,” “Evil Witch,” “Hexenhammer” and the eponymous closing number. Following in the hallowed footsteps of Tipton and Downing, Smith and Murray, the guitar duo of Romana Kalkuhl and Courtney Cox stole the show with rapid fire riffing and incendiary solos. (Cox, in particular, can shred with the best of them.) Why are we not talking about them as one of the best tandems in the genre?
With drummer Lala Frischknecht and bassist Jeanine Grob driving it all and vocalist Laura Guldemond as the charismatic ringleader, Burning Witches fit very much into the NWOBHM mold; think “Painkiller”-era Judas Priest, specifically. We need more of this kind of music today—heavy, aggressive and powerful but still melodic and catchy. Originally from Switzerland but now with more of an international lineup, it feels like a treat to see Burning Witches at all in the United States and even more so in such an intimate venue as this. But no matter the size of the stage or the crowd, Burning Witches are what metal is all about.
BURNING WITCHES SET LIST: “Soul Eater,” “Shame,” “Dance with the Devil,” “Maiden of Steel,” “The Dark Tower,” “Sea of Lies,” “Inquisition,” “Release Me,” “Black Widow,” “Evil Witch,” “Lucid Nightmare,” “Hexenhammer,” “Wings of Steel,” “The Wings of the North,” “Burning Witches”
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