UMUR
"Thirteen Witches... But One of Them" is the first demo recording by Finnish thrash metal act Maple Cross. The demo was independently released in 1988. Maple Cross formed in 1985 in the Oulu area of Finland, which is situated in the nothern part of the populated area in Finland (actually around the middle west of the country).
Maple Cross were one of the earliest thrash metal acts from Finland who played a more aggressive style of thrash metal instead of the at the time more popular and uplifting speed metal which quite a few Finnish artists performed. Other seminal Finnish aggressive thrash metal artists were A.R.G., National Napalm Syndicate, Sacred Crucifix, Faff-Bey, and Phlegethon.
"Thirteen Witches... But One of Them" is a relatively well produced demo, and it´s obvious that Maple Cross are a well playing band too, but the vocals are very time-typical raw staccato delivered thrash metal vocals, which get the job done, but really don´t add much to the music.
So upon conclusion it´s understandable why "Thirteen Witches... But One of Them" was an influential release on the burgeoning Finnish death metal scene, as the contemporary youth weren´t used to hearing something this aggressive from a local band, but on the other hand this really isn´t that raw. It´s probably one of the least aggressive and brutal thrash metal demo releases if you compare it with the output of some of the above mentioned artists. A 2.5 - 3 star (55%) rating is warranted.