Leatherwitch – First Spell
Release Date: 29th May 2026
Label: Listenable Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Heavy Metal, Power Metal, Speed Metal, Hard Rock.
FFO: Dio, Judas Priest, Crystal Viper, Iron Maiden, Unleash The Archers, Frozen Crown, Burning Witches.
Review By: Rick Farley
Multi-instrumentalist, and incredibly ranged vocalist Marta Gabriel returns with her new scorching heavy metal band Leatherwitch, infused with a classic, energetic sound that doesn’t rely solely on retro vibes to bring the fist pumping metal to the hordes. The debut album First Spell releasing May 29th, 2026, on Listenable Records will surely bring back the glory days with its ripping solos, jagged, speed metal riffs and soaring vocals right straight into the face of modern heavy metal. A powerful forging of old and new that feels delightfully familiar while adding plenty of contemporary ideas that are fresh enough to sound almost progressive. Raging, melodic, and high energy. Prepare the dragons for battle.
In 2025 Marta disbanded her longtime band Crystal Viper after nine studio albums and decided to continue her musical journey alone with her new project. Rather than be a carbon copy of her previous work she took to a more basic, pure heavy meal path. The result First Spell is a hard charging, galloping, melodic, leather wielding axe straight to the chest. Full of killer guitar riffs ripped straight out of 80s and basslines melodies inspired by the NWOBHM, Leatherwitch is an intoxicating blend of all things classic, with memorable choruses and plenty of heavy metal attitude. Album opener Heroes and The Dice comes out of the gate folky and medieval but quickly transitions to a blistering speed metal hammering. My personal favourite song though, The New Beginning brings to mind a cross between Dio, Unleash the Archers, and Iron Maiden. The slower tempo of the track is undeniably hooky and impossible to not raise the horns to. Shreddy leadwork and ballady clean guitars give the track tons of extra personality when it’s not throwing around its stompy heaviness. Not every song lands as effectively as these two do, but there’s a lot of excellent ideas executed throughout the entire album. The CD version contains a solid version of Helloween’s “Walls of Jericho/Ride the Sky” while the vinyl version also contains a cover of Manowar’s “Black Wind, Fire and Steel.”
First Spell was produced and mastered by Bart Gabriel (Pagan Altar, Cirith Ungol), mixed by Olof Wikstrand (Enforcer) and features special guests: guitarist Giuseppe Taormina (Ellende) and Ginoir (Sabbat) who recorded guitar solos. All vocals and instruments were written and recorded by Marta Gabriel. The production is traditional sounding with a ton of raw bite with great clarity between instruments. The guitar tone is trebly and sharp while the bass has a jangling warm low end, Marta’s vocals soar over the mix like a bird of prey with its talons extended to strike. The drums while performed well and mixed well feel a little flat compared to the organic nature of the tracks. They’re missing some intensity in my opinion. This doesn’t change the quality of the album but is worth mentioning. Lastly a shoutout to Mario E. Lopez M for the killer cover art.
Even though this is the debut album from Leatherwitch, the amount of experience that went into this record makes it feel far more seasoned and mature in songwriting than most modern debuts. Marta’s twenty plus year legacy continues with a record, First Spell, which is an easy recommend for fans of heavy, speed and power metal of any age or time period.
(3.5 / 5)
