Band:	Witchery
Album:	Witchkrieg
Style:	Blackened thrash metal
Release date:	June 21, 2010
A review by:	Doc G.

01. Witchkrieg
02. Wearer Of Wolf's Skin
03. The God Who Fell From Earth
04. Conqueror's Return
05. The Reaver
06. From Dead To Worse
07. Devil Rides Out
08. One Foot In The Grave
09. Hellhound
10. Witch Hunter
11. Hung, Drawn And Quartered [limited edition bonus]

Witchery, a strange band in some aspects. A lot of people are familiar with them, it's a super group of world renowned musicians, yet you don't really hear much hype around them. This could possibly be because of the, although entertaining, fairly unremarkable albums put out, until now. Let's just say Witchery is finally giving people a reason to talk.

This album is the definition of "grower", and deserves a minimum of three plays in it's entirety at the centre of your attention. It's almost like that mildly attractive person at work or school who seems to get minutely hotter by the day, until one morning you show up with an uncontrollable, raging hard on; you've all experienced this at some point or another, don't act all high and mighty. Point being, this album does seem to come across as an unimpressive thrash/melodeath hybrid on the first play or two, but given the chance, Witchkrieg becomes pretty damn infectious pretty damn fast. Enough intimate one on one time with this album makes it impossible to walk away from without hearing songs like 'From Dead To Worse' and 'The God Who Fell From Earth' in your head for a few hours. Consider what it takes for a metal album to do this; powerful songwriting, memorable hooks, and [insert brutal imagery here] heaviness. Take all of those things, cut out the fat, and voila! You have Witchkrieg. It's design is simple enough, thrash riffage, melodic death metal leads, and some subtle hardcore moments thrown in here and there. The result is each member leaving their unmistakable thumbprint while still sounding like a cohesive unit.

Now, of course certain songs stand head-and-shoulders above the others, but frankly there isn't a filler to be found. Even the weaker tracks on the disc have at least one or two noteworthy parts worth listening to, whether it be an unforgettable riff, a soaring face-melter, or one of the anthem chorus'.

No more excuses, a band with a line-up of this calibre has no excuse to release anything but top notch metal, so let's just sum it up in two words; Witchkrieg delivers!