Witchery - Nightside (2022)

Restless & Dead was one of my favorite metal albums of the later 90s, an absolute blitz of memorable songs performed in a legit hybrid of thrash, speed and black metal that I was completely in love with. They held it down to an extent with Dead, Hot and Ready, and have had a few reasonable full-lengths in the ensuing decades, but like their sister act The Haunted, I feel like a lot of the songwriting, particularly the riffs seem like they're just drawn from a grab bag of average fare, tucked into songs, slathered with whatever vocalist they can find at the time who sounds louder than Toxine but doesn't have the benefit of good tunes to back him up. The fire and energy have often just felt absent from the band, like it's an obligation that they just occasionally revisit when they remember there's still a fan base out there.

I'd love to report that Nightside is some return to form, but for most of its running length it's bog standard black & roll with a series of riffs that sound utterly uninspired and effortless, drawn from the good old legacy of Venom and the 'head, sometimes flowing more in a pure black/thrash direction like the "Storm of the Unborn" intro. Most of the momentum can only be provided by the drums or background choir ambiance even there, or the appreciably fat bass tone of Victor Brandt, because the rhythm guitars just don't do much for me. A squirrely, atmospheric lead, maybe, but otherwise it can become fairly vapid material. When the band is cranking out as much force as it can, in one of the singles, "Popecrusher", or the similar "Churchburner", it nearly reaches the levels of yesteryear, but then again you just keep waiting for some great breakdown or melody or something to rise above the din, and it only 'nearly' gets there every time. The vocalist, Anders Norder, who is on his third Witchery record, has the style they've always been using, a growlier spin on the black/thrash rasp, but he often comes off a little overbearing than the riffs, making them fade a bit into the undercurrent.

Production is fine, and the album is overall packed with enough heat not to feel completely phoned in, but the songs just don't stand out to memory as much as I'd want. "Crucifix and Candle" with its more moderate rocking swagger, is a slight departure, but even that doesn't throw me any surprises that would elevate the experience, and the closer, "Nightside", which alternates between slower, doomy grooves and sparse atmospheric parts with whispered guest vocals, is my favorite track here. "A Forest of Burning Coffins" has a great title but goes too over the top to provide a brutal thrasher with only a slight melodic payoff. In the end, this one just ranks between its two predecessors for me, still a crooked mile away from the inspiring works of the band's formation, but never quite sucking either, it's just there are literally dozens of black & roll, black/thrash/speed or whatever groups in this subgenre that do it all so much better nowadays. Compare this to the latest from Hellripper, or Knife, or Cruel Force, or Antichrist...Nightside keeps the Swedes on the tracks, but the engine continues to sputter along with only brief surges of quality mileage. The cover art...I get it, but kind of an eyesore.

Verdict: Indifference [6.75/10]

https://www.facebook.com/officialwitchery

Witchery - I Am Legion (2017)

Witchery is not a band to really ever have 'bottomed out', or resorted to releasing pure shit into their legacy, but I'd be lying to say I've really connected to anything they've put out since the first few Toxine years. Many of the intermittent albums seem like pure, soulless riffing exercises which occasionally capture the thrills and styles of Restless & Dead or its successor, but never rival them in sheer thrill-a-minute songwriting prowess. This is a band with an enormous level of talent spread across its roster, and there are no real technical issues or laziness on exhibition, or even that feel of exhaustion you'll come across when visiting acts that might be considered 'side bands' for their members. A lot of the cover art, lyrics and aesthetics have been solid, but for going on two whole decades now they've just never really climbed that hill to its fullest to produce the sorts of timeless blackened thrash metal that they once exploded onto the scene with.

I Am Legion continues with the prior album's lineup, the veteran trio of Jensen, Corpse and D'Angelo joined by Angus Norder on vocals and Christofer Barkensjö on the drums, and they give an earnest attempt to mix a little of their late 90s style with some more varied, ranging, dynamic, bombastic songwriting, which often results in simpler, more warlike riff patterns and a little bit of dissonance through the black metal chords they apply to the more straightforward chords. The album has a few strange choices in pacing, like opening with the titular, drab instrumental Slayer-thon of "Legion" and then lapsing into the horror-theme organs which anoint "True North", which in truth should have been the opener since it just makes more aesthetic sense, and sounds brasher and brighter with its flowing mid-paced gait and potent if predictable riff-set. There's a real 90s groove/thrash feel to a lot of the material, generally derived from that era of Slayer, with a few flourishes of Swedish blackness to create a more suffocating, evil atmosphere, and a hell of a lot is reliant on the loud rasped delivery of Norder, who sounds like a loyal mix of his two predecessors Toxine and (ironically) Legion, but lacks a bit of distinction on his own.

For the most part, the riffs seem like an average grab-bag of Jensen and/or Corpse's vast arsenals which hadn't wound up on any other album, taking but a few minutes to string together into other like-minded sections, but that's not to say they entirely lack energy on a primordial level, which is really the way to approach this. The choruses aren't going to be as infectious as something like "The Reaper", so they compensate with a little more diversity in how the tunes are timed out and placed up against one another. There's also no lack for some atmosphere in cuts like "Welcome, Night", "A Faustian Deal" or "Dry Bones", and some of the hammering, harder hitting fare like "Seraphic Terror" hits you with a few tasteful licks like the trilly guitars between the verses, but overall I'd say the riff patterns fire off at a rate of 2-3 forgettable, and then one with some genuine force to bore into your brain. The drums and bass sound good, the rhythms thick and muscular compared to some prior albums, especially where they rely on slower stuff in the vein of Celtic Frost, Darkthrone or the black & roll Satyricon records, which a lot of riffs here resemble.

The cover art is a little generic, obvious and boring, but to be fair this album is the closest I've come to truly enjoying one since Dead, Hot and Ready, and superior to Symphony for the Devil; so I have to give Witchery some props, even though it feels a little contractual and phoned in on the instrumental side. Lyrically, however, I think it's pretty solid, if not clever or intellectual, with a measure of effort placed into their prose, imagery, and general flow. As a side note, I also dug the video for "True North", which doesn't seem like what you'd typically expect from the band due to the themes they usually toil around with, and that reflects in the music itself a little. Despite my issues, I Am Legion is an effort that would likely please a lot of listeners up front, and does give a little hope that the band is starting to get back on the rails that it, after all, never left for any great distance.

Verdict: Win [7/10]

https://www.facebook.com/officialwitchery

Witchery - In His Infernal Majesty's Service (2016)

If Witchery had put out much of any value over since the 90s, I might have felt slightly embarrassed to have ignored the existence of this latest album for the last 3-4 months. However, my interest in the band has just waned that much that any and all expectations or excitement over having any sort of relapse back to Restless & Dead era greatness lie smothered in the tombstones that they emerged from on the cover of that masterful, timeless debut. Efforts like Symphony for the Devil or Witchkrieg were mildly entertaining, or at least a couple tracks on each, but they've just failed to hit it out of the park and have thus sunk into near obscurity. Nobody seems to talk about the Swedes these days, being far more interested in the other projects of the band's constituents, and it's hard to argue with that reaction, because while they continue to set up really cool, varied cover aesthetics for each new album that pique my interest, the music contained on these discs has been inconsistent at best. I am sad to say that In His Infernal Majesty's Service doesn't instill confidence that this is a rut they can ever crawl forth from...

Now, let me back that up a step, because we're far, far from a disaster. This is without question a passable album, better than the last two, and possesses a certain rawness of structure to it that occasionally manifest some nostalgia for their earlier albums. The new vocalist Angus Norder has a fairly standard but efficient guttural rasp which, like his earlier predecessor Toxine, tends to bleed into the rhythm guitar but gives the material that same nasty feel as yesteryear. In truth, there were a number of riffs on the album that felt straight from the 1998-1999 playbook, with the caveat that they really aren't all that catchy or distinct if you span back over the catalogs of bands like The Haunted, Raise Hell and this one to compare or contrast. I.H.I.M.S. vomits forth a balance of 80s German and US thrash, ranging from Sodom to S.O.D., tempered with some clear nods to punk and speed metal. The bass tone is nice and springy, the leads are just about right, never too flashy or overextended, and the drums are crashing everywhere and on fire through much of the track list...but when you just lack those central, impressive riffs to hone in on, the rest of the attempt seems rather fruitless.

Tracks like "Nosferatu" aren't shy about their influence, a pretty direct bite on late 80s Slayer, but even then they can't rise up and compete with the original in any way, shape or form, and they seem like pretty safe tributes to the nostalgia of their remaining audience. "The Burning of Salem" does a similar deed for Dark Angel's ruthless athleticism, and I definitely took away an impression that the Swedes were consciously meting out their influences like they were a checklist written in marker on their sleeves, once again distracting me away from a band that was once in its own right pretty goddamn good. So if you just shut your mind off for a dose of unmitigated death/thrash with no aspirations to anything but survival, I think the tunes here are functional enough not to scoff too hard at. However, the elements that made the band so damn fun and memorable in the first place seem a bit exhausted and watered down to the point that in my review run-throughs I kept wanting to skip about half the songs because the Jensen/Corpse riffing choices were so banal and uninspired. Again, I found it a little superior (if less energetic) than Witchkrieg, but only by a slim margin; it's hardly an offensive experience, but another moderate letdown from a group capable of so much more.

Verdict: Indifference [6.5/10]

https://www.facebook.com/officialwitchery

Witchery - Witchkrieg (2010)

Considering the relative dip in quality the Swedish black/thrashers took with their third and fourth records Symphony for the Devil and Don't Fear the Reaper, it was perhaps a very good idea that the band go on a coma, from which possibly never to return. Well, the seasons have shifted and now Witchery has, in fact, begun to fan the flames of their staked exile and deemed the time ripe to once again conjure up some mayhem. In this crusade, they are joined by a new, horned countenance on the microphone, Erik "Legion" Hagstedt, who once worked with Swedish cults Ophthalamia and Marduk. He replaces the recently departed Toxiene, and the difference is like night and day, but not without a bit of intervening afternoon gloom.

I always found Toxiene a little understated in his rasping approach, in particular on the band's earlier albums, but regardless it worked very well within the band's overall milieu. Legion is sort of the opposite, his vocals seem deeper and more full-bodied, roaring over the Jensen riff attack like a fleet of winged monkeys en route to fucking up the lives of a pig-tailed girl and her mixed company. At times, I almost felt the vocals were overbearing and felt like they were in another dimension to the music, but in other places, it really works wonders, creating this vast nightmare feel to what would otherwise be some rather stock thrash/death/black metal.

Sadly, the riffs are where Witchkrieg once again fails to muster up the forceful energy of the past efforts like the miraculous Restless & Dead. They're biting and forward, and comparable to the work of the past two records, which were less than spectacular. It's pretty telling when a slower, groove monolith like "The God Who Fell From Earth" can steal the attention away from the more crazed material like "The Reaver" or "Witchkrieg" itself. I also felt like a few of the tracks veered too boldly into a black/death sound, like "Wearer of Wolf's Skin", which is just not something I really expect or desire from Witchery.

There ARE exception, however, in which the songs summon adequate riffs to turn the head towards its downright, banging position, like "Conqueror's Return", which successfully segues from a ballistic thrashing force to a big groove sequence. "From Dead to Worse" and "Hellhound" were mildly entertaining, though a few of the blockier, bruising cuts in the depths like "Devil Rides Out" and "One Foot in the Grave" were less than compulsory. The vocals on "Witch Hunter" range from annoying to wretchedly atmospheric, but the limited edition bonus track "Hung, Drawn and Quartered" is arguably the best song on the entire album...I wonder why it wasn't included as one of the core tracks. Perhaps it was just recorded too late.

As a little gimmick and a tribute to some of their favorite bands, Witchery have thrown together a roster of guest soloists here including Jim Durkin (Dark Angel), Kerry King, Hank Shermann, Gary Holt & Lee Altus (Exodus), and the almighty Andy LaRocque, and it's pretty interesting to hear how they all apply their distinct styles to the leads, but they don't exactly shine through as more than fluid within the Swedes' imposed frameworks. I'd be lying though if I said i didn't think it was a good idea...

Ultimately, Witchkrieg is a superior effort to the previous, lifeless Don't Fear the Reaper, where Witchery's good intentions to invoke a memorable hybrid of thrash and black metal went to die in a fire. Yet it doesn't even hinge on the success of their first two albums at slutty graveyard thrusting riffs and faux diabolic diatribes, and winds up just a smidgeon shy of 2001's Symphony for the Devil in overall quality. You can have a good time with a number of these tracks, but in the end they all feel rather disposable. The statement made by one of the band member's that this was a better album than anything they'd previously released is quite far from the truth (happens more often than you'd think). As for Legion, he is not necessarily better or worse than his predecessor. It's good to see him in action again, and he's a pretty reliable choice, but might take a little more time to gestate within the band's core sound.

Verdict: Indifference [6.25/10]

http://www.myspace.com/witcherytheband

Witchery - Don't Fear the Reaper (2006)

As Symphony for the Devil was such a letdown, it was in Witchery's best interest to lay low for a few years and see if the members could rekindle the black tickers within their hearts. Most of them were busy with other projects at the time, so this was not really a tall order, and when the band returned in 2006 for Don't Fear the Reaper, they did so with all of the members from the prior album, and on a new record label, Century Media, who at this time were already knee deep in trendy, shallow core bands, but still kept a healthy roster of stalwarts in reserve for when their flights of commercial fancy would come to a swift demise.

Lo, I placed this disc in my stereo with great apprehension, but two fingers crossed behind my spine. Surely they would not offer a repeat performance of the lacking Symphony, and return to the severe ass kicking the band was capable of prior to the 21st century, right? Absolutely not! In fact, this is even worse, an uninspiring slab featuring 45 minutes of phoned in, boring riffs and songs that are well below the ability of these five men. The production, of course, is brighter yet than Symphony for the Devil, and the band have incorporated a lot more of a slower, grooving edge which I might add is quite unwelcome, as are the increased use of pure death metal vocals (like in "Draw Blood") that do nothing positive towards the outcome.

Ironically, the album almost gets off to a promising start with the instrumental "Disturbing the Beast". Had it been followed with some kickass track, the slowly building atmospheric mosh boots of this intro might have forged an impact crater on the listener's ass, but "Stigmatized" is quite possibly the worst Witchery track ever recorded, led by a simplistic, juvenile black metal riff that we've heard a thousand times prior, only much faster, and some filler groove riffs which sound like the band just stole half a line from one of their Dead, Hot & Ready tracks to fill space. "Draw Blood" is not much better, a death/thrash tune which follows a similar formula. No surprises lurking around any corner, no killers stalking the night. No pummeling Jensen hook to bait you along! Adding a delay to Toxiene's vocals in "The Ritual" might occasionally make him sound like Ron Royce from Coroner, but it does not assist this otherwise boring groove song.

You've gotta dig pretty deeply into this album to find anything worth a damn. "Ashes" has a nice atmospheric keyboard line, which merges well into the guitars, but they are of themselves not all that interesting, so its up to Toxiene and some gang shouts to save the day. "Plague Rider" and "Damned in Hell" sound like a return to Symphony for the Devil level quality, which is to say...they are average at best, the latter using more of the band's Mercyful Fate-like grooves. Ditto for "Crossfixation". Speaking of the previous album, there is another Egyptian metal instrumental here, "The Wait of the Pyramids", and once again it's probably the best track on the entire album, with some wailing walls of solo that hover over its inbred mysticism. The dull hammering of "Immortal" is quickly forgotten, but "Cannonfodder" and "Styx" fare a little better with at least 1-2 decent riffs each. Another instrumental, "War Piece" is really just an excuse to flex a little blues breaks over some average, chugging pit metal, and

I can only theorize and speak the unspoken, if obvious thoughts that go into such a moot offering: 'Hey fellas, long time no see! I spent about 20 minutes going through some old tapes, and I believe I found at least a few dozen passable riffs we could slap onto a new album. Nothing special, mind you, but good enough for Century Media, and that means a paycheck, right? Head on in to the studio next week and lets churn this out like butter, after all, we've all got better things to do.' Even a cover, or rather 'update' of Satanic Slaughter's "Legion of Hades" can not save Don't Fear the Reaper from middling obscurity (can you really cover yourselves?), and really it presents only a case that Witchery needs a much larger fork stuck in them. Though he wouldn't flee the ranks for years after this, this would be Toxiene's final album with the band, before returning to play guitar in Seance. Can't say that I blame the guy!

Verdict: Indifference [5/10] (a bottomless gorge swallows all in line)

http://www.myspace.com/witcherytheband

Witchery - Symphony for the Devil (2001)

By 2001, Witchery was already a pretty huge name out there, having numerous tours beneath their belts and seeing a larger level of momentum than many of the members had experienced in their former bands. Expectations were now enormous in general, and the Swedish made a fair effort to suppress them with its third long player, a Symphony for the Devil, and a new drummer initiated into the scythe wielding ranks: Martin Axe, who has played also in Satanic Slaughter and Nifelheim (among others), and currently with Opeth. With their new skin smasher, and a clear, bolder production than either of the previous records, the band managed to produce an appreciable, but unmemorable album.

The major problem with Symphony for the Devil is the band had already done this, twice, and far better. So aside from the arguably better mix of the guitars, and added psychedelic, nostalgic elements (like the riffs in "Enshrined"), there is not a lot to write home to the morgue about. Toxiene gives a pretty level performance to Dead, Hot & Ready, but here it doesn't feel so novel. Still, the band manages to remain vigorous, exciting and I would even risk the term 'mature' in describing the composition. I think a few of the songs here certainly would function in a mix with the best tracks off the earlier albums, but I only seriously enjoyed a handful of them.

I'll start with the more obvious tracks, like the instrumental "Hearse of the Pharaohs", which I must add, sounds almost exactly like something Mercyful Fate would have written for their 90s reunion effort In the Shadows, with its Shermann/Wead writhing guitar patterns (perhaps a D'Angelo connection here). It's not the first time Witchery has composed a successful instrumental (reference "Born in the Night" from the debut), and it might not have suffered from Toxiene's presence, but its pretty cool to kick back with, especially if you're in the mood for some archaic desert nightmares. "Enshrined" benefits from the flange in the guitars, creating an instant, eerie mystique that flows effortless across D'Angelo's lines (Sharlee has a pretty ribald presence on the entire album). Another of the album's strongest would be "Inquisition", in particular the excellent riffing that surrounds and supports the lead, or the gang shouts out beyond the bridge.

Then there are a smattering of tracks which simply sound like those the band has already written for Dead, Hot & Ready. "Omens" reminds me of "Full Moon" in spots, and "Unholy Wars" recounts "A Paler Shade of Death". The other instrumental on this album, "Bone Mill" has a few riffs that sound suspiciously similar to "Merciless Onslaught", an instrumental from the Metal Church debut! The remainder of Symphony for the Devil is well, simply put, not all that inspiring. "Wicked", "Shallow Grave" and "None Buried Deeper..." wrangle on past the listener but lack the smug chagrin of the band's finer material, and though "The Storm" starts with a promise, and peters out to some boring fast chug rhythms with little to no real payload. "The One Within" is extremely flat until the scraping noise of the leads, and "Called for by Death" sounds like a pretty weak effort to mimick something from South of Heaven.

Perhaps Symphony for the Devil is a sign of a burned out idea, a hollow shell from which the last rays of ghoulish ambition have fled, to be replaced by a cycling of the motions. The cover art, lyrics and production of the record suffice to these eyes and ears, but very few of the audio components have a lasting impact on the psyche. No flitting fantasies of graveyard makeout sessions with a witching slut will infect your brain here, only a few morose monoliths of solid riffing, one of which does not even have vocals. Probably Jensen in particular would feel this burn, after all the guy is writing riffs like crazy for The Haunted in addition to this band, and the two have arguably similar styles when it comes to the guitar thrashing. This is not really a bad album...the band still play the horror themes pretty straight, and explore a few that they hadn't on the past albums. But compared to the first two, it is severely lacking in the black magic department.

Verdict: Indifference [6.75/10] (there are fates to be sealed)

http://www.myspace.com/witcherytheband

Witchery - Dead, Hot & Ready (1999)

I should probably blame myself for holding expectations so high for Witchery's follow up to the startling Restless & Dead debut, but it becomes immediate on the first playthrough of its 'sequel' that much of that effort's sheer, blissful scything rapture has been spent on the band, and I was merely going to have to settle for an album that was 'very good' as opposed to perfect. The weaponry is much the same, the five members from the debut and the Witchburner EP all return to their positions, but I got the feeling some of the truly classic tones the band covered via Judas Priest or Accept have rubbed off here. Dead, Hot & Ready is still a righteously savage affair, but the writing feels slightly more laid back. It takes a breath in between each upskirt thrust in the morgue late at night, and when all is said and done, necrolust spent in blasphemous passion, it comes out a winner all the same.

First, there is really no song here to match "The Reaper", which is pretty much the best damned black/thrash track ever written. Witchery tries to match it with the opener "Demonication", which races along at the same crashing pace as that fateful debut, but aside from its descending, quickly meted chorus bridge, the bluesy NWOBHM-inflected thrashing is simply not as vicious or vicarious. Other violations of velocity here include "On a Black Horse Thru Hell", which hammers along with abandon and sprinkles a sheen of mystique before its muscle pumping, lithe grooves in the bridge; "Call of the Coven", a very Destruction-like piston of violence that is probably the best of the fastest paced tracks on Dead, Hot & Ready; and "The Guillotine", which feels like a very ramped up sequel to the band's cover of "Fast as a Shark", Toxiene spewing some relentless death growls across his feline black rasp. The title track is also fast, hungry, and cruel, charging ahead at full bore. The little chugging breakdown is not enough to rein in the savage speed, but I love the eerie sequence with the muted guitars and spoken word before the close.

No, the album truly relies on its mid-paced material to woo the moon-bathed garden of graves in which it restlessly dwells, and here it excels with some venomous lechery like "Full Moon", with a mighty, savage Priest-like axe rhythm that seriously makes the listener feel as if he were caught like a deer in the headlights of some lycanthropic blood-hunt, his scent fresh on the trail as the furred aberrations come howling through the midnight sun. Great bridge with pumping bass and melodic guitars, killer breakdown thrash riff. "Resurrection" is another fist pumper that thrashes at a pretty middle pace, but it features some excellent classic heavy metal riffing in there that was clearly inspired by the greats (Dio-era Black Sabbath, plus a fuck ton of other, cruising NWOBHM). But don't fret, it features some of those patented, thick Jensen mosh rhythms to break up the tinge of rusted steel. "A Paler Shade of Death" is another of the album's best, opening like "Among the Living", then asserting a thunderous, down-trodden spike to its brooding riffs and a great lead segment. "The Devil and the Damage Done" is barbaric, with some grisly rolling double bass and another of the descending metal licks akin to that in "Demonication", only this time housed in a far more suitable environment of ghastly, skeletal grave turning rhythms.

It's time to go, welcome to my home
You scream my name, I´ll dress you up in flames
You sold your soul, this is what you bought
I hope you like it 'cause I’ve heard it’s rather hot!

I certainly can't think any fan of Restless & Dead would be ultimately disappointed by what the band has on offer here, even if it's a little less grabby in most places. The musical matrix of Jensen, Corpse, D'Angelo and Mique is possibly tighter than the debut, and thus they are able to explore a slightly wider foundation of sound. The leads are almost always well written, and the actual production of the record is dark and timeless, like the pitch night sepulchers in which the band's morbid and hilarious fantasies play out. Toxiene is as ever an adequate vocalist, and I feel with Dead, Hot & Ready he's a little more expressive than the previous album. If this sophomore suffers anything, it's a slight case of redundancy, since the band had blazed such an intricate path of carnage already, and several of the tracks here feel like crafty re-writes of their existing songs. But if you already worshiped at the corpse of the debut such as I, you will be straining your spine and thrashing your neck rather than dwelling on the fact.

Verdict: Win [8.5/10] (nocturnal confirmation)

http://www.myspace.com/witcherytheband

Witchery - Witchburner EP (1999)

Witchery's debut Restless & Dead was both a wake up call and a blast of fresh grave soil, taking the reins of the black/thrash sub-genre directly away from the current lordly practitioners like Bewitched and Swordmaster and finding greater success abroad. It was clear that there would be some legs to this project, which in one album blew away the combined output of some of the members' previous bands (Seance and Satanic Slaughter), so the Swedes issued this EP in order to sate the thirst for their sophomore album (which was due out in October 1999).

What better way to do this than gather some safe covers that most metal fans can relate to, with a few spare originals that probably weren't going to be good enough for the next full-length? Thus, the Witchburner EP was born. But what I didn't expect is that the covers were going to be quite this good...and really, they make this release worthwhile even more than the band's own new material, though that does not disappoint either. The cover choices are all rather obvious: Accept, Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, W.A.S.P., card carrying deities of the metal pantheon all, but Witchery's carefree, give a fuck attitude of blazing guitars, and the strangled kitten cornered in Toxiene's esophagus all lend themselves very well to their interpretation. Of the four, "Fast as a Shark" and "Riding on the Wind" are the strongest, with "Neon Knights" coming in a close third. They're all played pretty straight, with the obvious scaling in production values at the dawn of a new century, and the predicted difference in vocal styles, and yet Toxiene does attempt to put a little more 'spice' into his haughty snarls and barks, easily rivaling his performance on the debut. The cover of W.A.S.P.'s "I Wanna Be Somebody" is reasonably fun too, I simply just don't care for the original as much as these others.

As it turns out, the band's own new material would also be greater than expected. In particular, I really enjoyed "The Executioner", with a thrusting rhythm that almost rivals "The Reaper", and some killer hooks cycling through post-verse, though the chorus in this song is nowhere near as catchy. "The Howling" keeps up the pace, Sharlee D'Angelo's bass striding along below a meaty Corpse/Jensen thrashing, and a fine bridge rhythm. The final track on the EP, "Witchburner" itself is a more brazen, choking, raw composition, but force enough remains within the guitars and Mique's drumming to behead any vile Wiccan who preys upon the hapless, and the riff breakdown at about 2:35 is just fucking awesome...

Witchburner is 25 minutes of the same reckless attitude and roots metal aesthetic that pervaded their flawless debut album, in a tight and spry package that should have even the most hardened headbanger romping about the room breaking glass bottles and injuring himself. I'd like to point out that though Witchery were (and presumably still are) a 'retro' band in that they mesh old school thrash and speed metal ethics with a black, snarling throat, the band is largely successful because they play it STRAIGHT. As cliche as some of their imagery and lyrics are, they do not fuck around by reciting the 'thrash' mantra in the lyrics every other passage, a lesson I wish half of today's pre-pubescent Exodus/Tankard worshipers could have sat in on. I know you want to be funny. Play it straight, thrice damn you! It's always going to end up funnier that way (and timeless). Witchery has their finger on the trigger here, and this is a tasteful series of bullets that will impress anyone who enjoys Restless & Dead or the following Dead, Hot & Ready.

Verdict: Win [8/10] (mercy is just a word to me)

http://www.myspace.com/witcherytheband

Witchery - Restless & Dead (1998)

When Witchery first arrived on the scene, formed from the 'ashes' of Seance and Satanic Slaughter, I was truly blown away, for their debut Restless & Dead marks one of the very best of the retro thrash metal efforts. It is exciting, entirely memorable and delivers a finely honed blackened edge to its thrash/speed/heavy metal influences, in particular the German sect of cult thrash gods such as Sodom and Destruction. It's a phenomenal album which has rarely been equaled or surpassed, not even by its own follow-ups which have gotten progressively weaker in each iteration. It's also a lot better than any of the works from its members' previous bands (as well as Patrik Jensen's other riff vehicle The Haunted).

But let's stick with Restless & Dead, shall we? "The Reaper" doesn't simply burst out of the starting gates, it pulls down the entire stadium as it fires up. This is quite possibly one of the best first tracks on any metal album, ever. It thrusts along with a furious thrashing pace, Toxine's vocals dripping their pure venom across some pretty kickass lyrics. Yeah, you might think snarls of 'the reaper reaper reaper comin' to get ya!' are pretty hack, but in the context of this song they are maddeningly awesome. The riffs are some of Jensen's best written, in particular the great bridge before the final chorus of the song. Sparse and filthy leads also adorn this gem. Challenge to all 'retro' thrash/speed metal bands: let's hear you write a song like this!

"The Reaper" would be enough to satisfy any non-poseur in the universe, but fortunately Witchery saw fit to hook us up with the rest of the album too. The band's namesake "Witchery" has a killer, caustic groove hook which alternates into brutal classic speed metal verse and an intense volley of chords for its brief choral bridge. "Midnight at the Graveyard" begins with nice samples of rain and a tolling bell as it fuels up its incredible thrashing might. "The Hangman" is a slower tune with some excellent Mercyful Fate influence (a band bassist Sharlee D'Angelo has also played in). "Awaiting the Exorcist" is an glorious, driving track with some killer vocals and burning leads. Insanely riffy. So you've already got an incredibly worthwhile album and you're only halfway through. The rest is pure thrash poetry. "House of Raining Blood" is a slower, moodier track with a creepy old school horror theme. "Born in the Night" lets the cut of its bladed axes begin before picking up with a beat, this one has a thrash/power metal crossover feel which is highly effective. "Into Purgatory" is yet another mandatory riff slugfest, and the final, title track is nearly as intense as "The Reaper". Did I mention I loved the lyrics on this record, as simple as they were?

Let me take you to the promised land
I will lead you there by the hand
Feel the cold that pours out from my soul
(where) I will take you - you will need no more
Place your trust and only faith in me
I'll step in and I will set you free
I'm the hated I'm the so called mean
But I don't judge - you are indifferent to me
Sleep a lifetime - Die an eternity
Deathrider in the sky
Place your trust and only faith in me
I'll step in and I will set you free
I`m the hated I`m the so called mean
But I don't judge - you are indifferent to me

You just don't hear an album this well-crafted every day. It retains its level of excitement even now, with a bold production. I've often felt Toxine's snarls were a little too low in the mix of some songs, in particular on the followup Dead, Hot and Ready. This is not the case here, as they are perfect. The riffs conjured up here by Jensen & Co. are molten fucking hot, the band truly had a grasp on what made their influences so strong and channel it forth into an album that is effective and fun. It is a shame they've never been able to rival what transpired on this disc. Dead, Hot and Ready is still pretty good but nowhere near as catchy in my opinion.

Thrash until death! And do it to this album.

Verdict: Epic Win [10/10] (an incantation of the dark)

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