THE IRON MAIDENS / BURNING WITCHES Live Concert Review 2022!

Posted on May 26, 2022 by Michael Juvinall in Concert Review, Exclusives, Heavy Metal // 0 Comments

THE IRON MAIDENS / BURNING WITCHES Live Concert Review 2022

Venue: The Forge – Joliet, Illinois
Date: May 21, 2022
Special guests: SABBATHA Chicago
Reviewed by Michael Juvinall – Horror Patch
All photos © Michael L. Juvinall / Monu-Metal Photography – All Rights Reserved

There’s just something about an all-female metal band that really gets my blood pumping. Now maybe that’s because I’m a man but I’d like to think it’s really because there are some really great female metal bands out there right now. In times past, an all-female metal band was few and far between. Now, in today’s metal world, all-female metal bands are coming out of the woodwork, and that’s a great thing. A great deal of these bands are comprised of hugely talented musicians. The two headlining bands of the Hell Hath No Fury Tour 2022 – The Iron Maidens and Burning Witches, one who’s been around for a while and one a little newer are prime examples of this.

The Iron Maidens is a national touring act from Los Angeles that plays nothing (obviously) but Iron Maiden songs. They’ve been around since 2001 and have gone through many members, some of which have gone on to bigger and better things.

Burning Witches is a power metal band from Switzerland that plays all-original material. These gals have never toured America until now, on this tour.

SABBATHA Chicago

So Sabbatha Chicago is a Chicago (duh!) tribute band that plays Black Sabbath, Dio, and Ozzy covers. These gals play all over the Chicagoland area and as it turns out, they’re a great band. I say that because normally I’m not a fan of cover bands.

The band is a quartet of accomplished musicians who put a lot of energy into their set. Frontwoman Elise (Ronnie James Diva) leads the charge with a lot of vigor for the material. She has a great voice with a lot of range and is easily able to belt out these songs and give credit to the original artists. The rest of the band includes Paula (Ruby Rhodes) on guitar, Kaylee (Pleaser Geezer) on bass guitar, and Lorena (Jill Ward) behind the kit.

Playing covers is hard because you have to walk a fine line between honoring the original material while injecting your own originality into the music. The rest of the band does this honorably.

Sabbatha Chicago is a fun band to watch perform those classic old-school metal tracks that we all know and love.

3 out of 5 Pentagrams!

Setlist

Children Of The Grave (Black Sabbath cover)
Holy Diver (Dio cover)
Bark At The Moon (Ozzy Osbourne cover)
Paranoid – (Black Sabbath cover)
Heaven and Hell (Black Sabbath cover)
War Pigs (Black Sabbath cover)

BURNING WITCHES

Burning Witches are a Swiss/Dutch all-female power metal group. They perform all original material. The band was formed in 2015 and has four albums under its belts so far.

As with most bands, their lineup has changed a bit since their formation. The current lineup of Burning Witches includes Laura Guldemond – vocals, Romana Kalkuhl – guitar, Larissa Ernst – guitar, Jeanine Grob – bass, Lala Frischknecht – drums.

For being a relatively newer band, these ladies are extremely talented and perform as if they’ve been playing together for much longer than they really have. When you use the term “energetic” to describe a band, you can really say that about this band but magnified by at least 10x. These ladies are all over the stage, interchanging their positions with one another and banging back and forth, all the while playing their hearts out.

I’ve been reporting on and following Burning Witches since their inception and first album. I’ve always liked their sound and their passion for heavy metal. But seeing these insanely talented and beautiful musicians play in a live environment was a wonderful treat. I truly look forward to seeing these ladies play again and what they have planned for the future.

4 out of 5 Pentagrams!

Setlist

Intro – Winter’s Wrath

Executed
Wings of Steel
Dance With the Devil
Flight of the Valkyries
We Stand as One
Lucid Nightmare
The Witch of the North
Hexenhammer
Black Widow

Encore:

Burning Witches

THE IRON MAIDENS

The Iron Maidens are a Los Angeles-based all-female Iron Maiden tribute band. They bill themselves as The world’s only female tribute to Iron Maiden. They are a national touring band and have played all over the country since their inception.

Formed in 2001, The Iron Maidens have quickly established themselves as one of southern California’s most popular tribute acts and are rapidly gaining international recognition. The band boasts beauty as well as excellent musicianship, lively stage presence, and a remarkable stage show with theatrical scenes interspersed throughout – The Iron Maidens website

These gals are highly talented professional musicians, many of which write and perform their own music as side gigs. The band covers Maiden music from all aspects of their discography, from the top hits to everyone’s favorite songs. They are constantly changing up their setlist to add different Maiden songs frequently. If you’ve seen them once, come back again because they will be playing completely different Maiden songs the next time.

The ladies even pattern their names to the corresponding Iron Maiden band members. For example, The line-up is Kirsten “Bruce Chickinson” Rosenberg on vocals, Linda “Nikki McBURRain” McDonald on drums, Courtney “Adriana Smith” Cox and Nikki “Davina Murray” Stringfield on guitars, and Wanda “Steph Harris” Ortiz on bass.

If you are an Iron Maiden fan, the next best thing to seeing the original band is to see The Iron Maidens perform the material with the utmost respect.