Witchery - WITCHKRIEG

Now that's a fucking album cover! I have a diverse, all-inclusive taste in music. You could say that I have a sundry collection of compact discs (y'know, if you were a douchebag who liked to use fancy words). Hell, I was listening to Tori Amos a few hours ago, but sometimes, I need to listen to something evil. It's what I refer to as a "Satan fix." All metalheads need a "Satan fix" to get through the week. It placates our nerves, and it makes the daily grind of domiciliary burdens seem less...soul-crushing? By the way, don't call your mother a domiciliary burden. Trust me. She'll either be pissed or confused. Or both.

Oh, right. This is supposed to be an album review, isn't it? Witchery is a Swedish band featuring members of Arch Enemy, The Haunted and Opeth. Ex-Marduk frontman Legion handles vocal duties on Witchkrieg, but unfortunately, he purged himself from the line-up earlier this year (ex-Dark Funeral frontman Emperor Magus Caligula has since assumed the role of lead growler). Musically, these fuckers deliver a voltaic cannonade of blackened thrash. They have a unique sound. The only band that I can compare them to is God Dethroned, but even that is a cursory example.

I'll get to the songs in a minute. My favorite aspect of Witchkrieg is the bottom-heavy production. This is explosive stuff. I'm not sure if they played instruments in the studio or if they merely hurled an incendiary bomb at a microphone. The fact that the riffs were written with optimal brutality in mind doesn't hurt matters. Tempos vary, so this set never becomes monotonous. How could it? It runs for 34 minutes, which is a little too short for my liking. I popped it in when I started this review, and it's already on the second spin.

If you're looking to sample this scorching analect of kvltness, I recommend trying "Wearer of Wolf's Skin," "The God Who Fell From Earth," "The Reaver" and "From Dead to Worse" on for size. Witchkrieg is crawling with guest guitar solos, the best being Andy LaRocque's melodic flourish on "From Dead to Worse." Kerry King contributes atonal squeals to the title track. Honestly, he ruins it, but that's just my opinion (the most overrated guitarist in history...oops, did I type that out loud?). It's simple, really; if you dig extreme metal, you'll dig Witchery's Witchkrieg. Generally speaking, it will appease fans of God Dethroned, Kreator, Goatwhore and yeah, probably Slayer.