Witchery - 'Witchkrieg'

A good blackened thrash metal album, but there are a few weak tracks.

Witchery is the on again off again project of various, well known musicians from the Swedish metal scene, all of whom play in other bands and projects. Playing an infectious form of thick thrash metal, Witchery always injected just a hint of black metal, mostly in the vocals and mild imagery, to spice it all up on their generally solid releases over the years. The last full-length from Witchery, Don’t Fear the Reaper, dates from 2006, and the most notable change since then is the addition of ex- Marduk vocalist Legion.

Witchkrieg storms out of the gates with the title track, a fast gallop full of infectious riffs and, to top it all off, a guitar solo contributed by none other than Slayer's Kerry King. King is the first of many well-known guests contributing solos to the album.

Immediately noteworthy is that Legion’s rasped growls work very well, particularly when Witchery are going all out, and he may have finally found a stable home after his departure from Marduk a few years ago. “Witchkrieg” is such a good start to the album that I immediately had visions of the album vaulting into this year’s top ten list.

“Wearer of Wolf’s Skin” is a worthy follow-up to “Witchkrieg,” and also features the album’s sole blastbeat, something usually not employed by Witchery. Things lighten up for the next couple of tracks, “The God Who Fell From Earth” and “Conqueror’s Return,” respectively; but, unfortunately, the songwriting just isn’t as strong. Witchery flirt with some NWOBHM influences with slower riffing and solos with lots of melody during these songs, but Legion’s vocals seem out of place here and the album falters a bit.

The pace picks up again with “The Reaver,” another scorcher with great riffs and rollicking solos from Lee Altus and Gary Holt from Exodus, but the next two songs are uneventful. However, Witchkrieg closes with three very strong up-tempo thrashers with a great deal of crunch, cementing the album’s status as a “near miss.”

Essentially, instead of being a monster of an album, Witchkrieg merely ends up being better than average. The ¾ of the album worth your time is definitely that, but the remainder of the album falters and lowers the score by a half point in my book. In short, a promise unfulfilled.

Disclosure: A review copy was provided by the publisher. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.