This Portland, Oregon based Heavy Metal band was founded in early 2009 with the intent to continue the legacy of such Pacific Northwest heavy Metal acts as Malice, Metal Church, early Queensrÿche and Sanctuary, and although that is still quite young, the quintet is already at its third release!
Granted, their January 1st, 2010 release was only a 3-track demo (the songs of which were all to be used again on the full-length debut), but it was swiftly picked up by the Heavy Artillery label, who re-issued the demo with bonus tracks in October of the same year, both in CD and 12-inch vinyl formats (limited editions though, each on a 200-copy rotation only)! With that release fresh from the printer's, and rave reviews till ringing in their egos, the band started out on their first North American tour (18 dates done with label mates Evil Survives) that same month, and afterward immediately jumped into a studio to record their debut full-length Under The Spell, which was released by Heavy Artillery in July 2011, again to positive regional praise and reviews.
Of the original early 2009 outfit, only guitarist Cory Boyd and drummer Shad Covert survived that first year, the quintet stabilising (after a couple of changes) through the addition of lead singer Thomas Adams, guitarist Tyler Loney, and bassist Gabriel 'Gabe' Franco. That's the outfit which entered the studio toward the end of 2009 to record their 3-track demo. Stability would eventually turn out to be somewhat shaky after all, as in early 2013 the singer and the drummer parted ways with the band...and this led to Loney taking over the lead vocal position. In order to fill in the vacant gaps, guitarist Bryce R. Vanhoosen and drummer Colin Vranizan were enlisted, and shortly after the rejuvenated line-up engaged itself in the writing process of its sophomore full-length, which took up most of the year 2013 (interrupted only for a two-week West Coast tour during Summer). In December the band entered their hometown's Falcon & Audiosiege Studios with Toxic Holocaust frontman Joel Grind engineering and co-producing. Three months of constant tracking and mixing ensued, but by late February the completely self-funded album was completed. The band then started planning the US tour on which they are about to embark at the end of July, following a couple of regional shows (with the exception of only a couple of days, the guys will be performing on a daily basis, playing 30 shows in 14 states, concentrating on California and Texas).
Say, before I forget...did you know that there's at least two other Metal bands with the same bandname? The oldest (formed in 2004) being a Power Metal outfit from Russia and having released so far only a demo that same year. As far as I know, the band is on a hiatus. The other Spellcaster is a Sympho-Prog Metal unit from Malaysia, founded in 2008. So far, they released a 2009 demo, and were featured on a 6-way split full-length issued in 2011 (Note that both bands have prior “rights” to the name?)! Of course, Portland's Spellcaster is, as already explained earlier in this review, yet another affair, and what you can expect musically is a Heavy Metal with slightly progressive elements, which occasionally (depends on the song, really) veers toward Speed Metal...but always still with that slightly progressive HM basis! Nice stuff, especially if you're into the traditional type of Heavy Metal. Going with that, is a somewhat high-pitched singer, whom only occasionally veers toward a heady tonality, but without ever taking on a false note. However, his breathing technique still falters, which leads him to cutting his sentences into somewhat separate pieces, and seen against his predecessor (whom from the sparse material I was able to find indeed had much better control on his breathing technique), Loney comes out negative in the comparison. Not too much though, and his vocal stylings are still quite enjoyable. But he coùld do with some vocal coaching!
One more detail about the album itself: released by the band on its own label, Spellcaster was issued on the very limited rotation of 100 copies, which was completely sold out three days after the release date. One would expect the album to also be available through download, but I haven't noticed a possibility for that on either the band's own website (www.) spellcaster.us or their page on facebook (www.) facebook.com/SpellcasterPDX. For a listening session of the album (and a viewing of the music clip of the album's track “Run Away”), check the band's official website. Incidentally, the band also has pages on ReverbNation and MySpace! Those of you in hopes of getting a hard copy of the album after hearing what's posted there, will either have to wait for the band to make more copies of their album, of until after they sign to a new label!