Witchery - Don't Fear The Reaper
2006 Century Media

Track Listing:
1.  Disturbing the Beast
2.  Stigmatized
3.  Draw Blood
4.  The Ritual
5.  Ashes
6.  Plague Rider
7.  Damned in Hell
8.  Crossfixation
9.  The Wait of the Pyramids
10. Immortal Death
11. Styx
12. War Piece
13. Cannonfodder

Line-Up:
Vocals:  Toxine
Guitars:  Richard Corpse, Patrik Jensen
Bass:  Sharlee D'Angelo
Drums:  Martin Axenrot

Shev's Rating:  D
Overall Rating:  D

Shev's Review:
Witchery has always been a guilty pleasure of mine ever since hearing Restless & Dead.  For whatever reason, this has always been a band generally frowned upon in the metal community.  I'm going to have to assume this is due to their general popularity/all-star line-up, but every album they have released, while taking a slight digression over the years, has been a relatively solid thrash release.  So it came as somewhat of a surprise after taking a lengthy recording break that the buzz surrounding their newest album, "Don't Fear The Reaper", was incredibly positive.  If these are the same people that hated "Symphony For The Devil", then I figured this new one was going to be sick.

Wrong.  Upon my first listen nothing seemed to click.  Could it be that I simply wasn't in the mood for some thrash?  Was I expecting something a little faster?  Was I expecting too much from Witchery's newest?  After a cool ten or so spins of this CD over the course of a couple days it became perfectly clear...this is just an awful release.  Hype and brand name aside, there's no nice way of putting it.

There are some good thrash riffs written, which can only be expected from their tag team guitar hero line-up, but played at a moderate tempo there seems to be something missing.  Kind of like a plane on a runway ready to take off, but instead just doing laps around the airport as it works up to speed.  It has the potential, it's done it plenty of times before, everybody expects the damn thing to take-off, but it just ultimately goes nowhere.  And this isn't to say that speed makes the song, but for this very reason bands like Exodus don't write folk music.  Some bands work well slow, some work well fast, and a few find success mixing it up.  Witchery is not one of those bands finding success here, and actually seem to be losing their edge when compared to solid slower songs from albums past like "Hearse Of The Pharaohs" which tend to drone on a little.

What does seem to hold up the weight a little bit is the vocals of Tony Kampner (aka Toxine).  Just as bitter and crisp as ever, and even over a CD's worth of uninspired dreck doesn't seem to have a problem with overall delivery.  There are also a few songs on here worthy of mentioning..."Stigmatized" even with it's mid-song filler, "Plague Rider" which is the most crushing song on the album despite sounding a little thin in places, and "Immortal Death" which is a mindless 1:31 marriage of thrash and death.  A couple of so-so songs help bridge the crapola like the closing "Cannonfodder" and the stylish "The Wait Of The Pyramids", but for the most part this is nothing like one would expect from a line-up like this.  Uninspired drivel that only the most desperately hard-up for thrash minions could appreciate.
Shev's Rating:  D

Discography (last updated 6.21.06):
Restless & Dead - 1998
Witchburner EP - 1999
Dead, Hot And Ready - 1999
Symphony For The Devil - 2001
Don't Fear The Reaper - 2006