Almost fifteen years since the Witches debut, founding member/main songwriter Jack Frost still the head of the coven. Since the debut, every two or three albums Jack pulls in some different influences to go with the different grouping of players on each album. By doing this, Jack has avoided repeating himself over the course of ten albums.

With that, Jack still on each Witches album does have in a way, a distinctive guitar tone, rhythmic delivery, or leads, which comes through on the opening title track. But with this new album, the Witches favors more bluesy hard rock/metal (video track ‘Better Days’), than the traditional metal sounds from their first two albums, or more modern influences (at the time) from the two with Alan Tecchio (“Amped”, “Deadly Sins”). Returning singer from “Rebirth”, Anthony Cross has a grittier throaty vocal, shared with bassist Ronnie Parks and Johnny Kelly (of Type o Negative) on rhythm section, “Way Of The Wicked” has slower tempos, more soulful arrangements and attention to melody, harmonies between the vocal and Jack’s leads which really shine on ‘Among Us’ , and ‘Soul Searching’. Jack’s love for bands like Badlands, Tesla, and Whitesnake does come through on this album, and hasn’t on any other Witches album till now. Kelly’s roots from Type O are also all over the albums beats (see ‘Dreams’), as they are pretty consistent, and recall names like (do I really need to give first names? Lol) Bonham, Ward, Paice, and Powell. Old school Witches fans of the albums “Xiled to Infinity and One” (2002) and “Passage To The Other Side” fear not, those American Power Metal riffs and driving rhythms are here for ‘Without Man’ and “When I Flew’. A return to the Tecchio years and contemporary riffing and rougher vocal can be heard on closer ‘Rise Up’.

Overall, “The Way Of The Wicked” is a fresh musical direction and chapter in Witches history, recalls their past, yet doing something new and different. Jack did not repeat himself on this album, a pitfall many succumbed to because of complacency and habit. DVD includes four promo videos, two from “Way Of The Wicked”, two from “Rebirth”.