‘Burned As Witches’
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BURNED AS WITCHES – ALBUM REVIEW
Known and loved as the drummer of Ash for the past three decades, 2026 finds Rick McMurray entering uncharted territory as he launches his new solo project Burned As Witches.
Initially a way of dealing with the loss of his long-time agent and good friend Steve Strange in 2021, the album is inspired by Strange’s love of heavy music and sees McMurray exploring a sound very different from the pop rock elegance of Ash.
This self-titled debut album instead is dark, doomy and loud as hell… it’s also bloody good! As soon as you hear opening track ‘Scapegoats’ and pre-release single ‘Hold Your Nerve’ you realise that this record is better than it has any right to be.
WATCH THE VIDEO FOR ‘HOLD YOUR NERVE’
With McMurray playing every note of every instrument and singing every song this is the literal definition of a solo album. Whilst his drumming talents are evident from his iconic day job, it’s somewhat striking how adept McMurray is with a guitar or bass in hand.
With beefy riffs and thunderous rhythm, these eight tracks are born from a period of mourning but built with love and affection and some heavy Sabbath and Zeppelin influences to boot.
Each track brings its own qualities and purpose to the collection but its in epic finale ‘To The Sky’ that the enormity of the record truly sinks in.
The album will no doubt receive attention due to McMurray’s name but the biggest complement you can pay is that if you hit play on this without knowing the origins you’d be left desperately wanting to find out who this incredible new band are.
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Watch Episode 73 of The Full Pelt Music Podcast with guest Rick McMurray
