Don't Fear the Reaper [Extra tracks]

Witchery | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 21, 2006)
• Original Release Date: 2006
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Extra tracks
• Label: Century Media
• ASIN: B000EHT5KU
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #169,573 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Witchery is back with a vengeance, April 4, 2006

By 

Robert VerBruggen (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Don't Fear the Reaper (Audio CD)

With members of The Haunted and Arch Enemy participating, there was little doubt that Witchery's Don't Fear the Reaper would be a masterpiece of extreme metal. Yet the album manages to exceed even those expectations.

Simply put, the guitar riffs on this release are amazing. Each track is loaded with heavy, evil gems with powerful low end and intricate melodies. The occasional high-pitched phrase adds variety and unpredictability.

The credit, of course, goes to The Haunted's Patrick Jensen - his main band's Anders Bjorler typically overshadows him, but here he proves himself, unleashing passage after passage of nefarious noise.

Death metal growls can seldom do more than complement a good guitar riff, but "singer" Toxine makes a good go of it on Don't Fear the Reaper, belting the words rhythmically enough to make them catchy in and of themselves. The most obvious example of this is the chorus to "Ashes," where he screams: "Ashes to ashes and dust to death / Fade away / Burn away."

The record is incredibly consistent, though some would argue it is homogenous as well. There is no acoustic instrumental, no ballad - just one great metal track after another. To Witchery's credit, metal aficionados might note how the band combines the (somewhat different) styles of death, black and thrash.

Perhaps the only standout is the bonus song "Legion of Hades," a 90-second super-fast death metal hate-fest originally recorded when the band was called Satanic Slaughter in the mid-`90s. It certainly sets itself off from the rest of the CD.

Don't Fear the Reaper is targeted to a niche market, and even mainstream heavy metal fans will never catch on to it. But for anyone looking for that extra ounce of aggression only hard-core metal can give, this album is a great place to start.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Back from the grave!, September 3, 2006

By 

Pablosa (Buenos Aires, Capital Federal Argentina) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Don't Fear the Reaper (Audio CD)

Witchery returns with their 4th album, "Don't fear the reaper". Featuring their usual experienced line-up with TOXINE (ex-Satanic Slaughter/Seance) in vocals, Richard CORPSE (also was in Satanic Slaughter) and Jensen (SS/Seance now in THE HAUNTED) in guitars, Sharlee D'Angelo (Mercyful Fate, Arch Enemy, Sinergy, Illwill, Dismember) in bass, and Martin AXENROT(SS / Bloodbath) ...Experienced guys who know what they're doing, and how to do it right. Looking at these names, it's easy to guess what kind of music they play: Straight-forward thrash-death metal, with crushing-hard riffing guitars, with lots of double drum-kicking and satanic harsh growls courtesy of Mr. TOXINE, in a horror/terror/death/grave atmosphere (lyrics, vocals, sound, layout, cover, music, looks, etc). What would you expect from songs such as "Plague Rider", "Ritual", "Draw Blood", "Ashes" or Immortal Death"?!?!?...

Witchery didn't try to reinvent the genre with this brand new album, or try to do something experimental adding voice effects, or clean vocals, or synths like most bands do nowadays...Witchery's style is more old-school trash/death metal (with a state of the art) production than melodic death metal...They just did their thing, true to their roots, rocking hard and fast, with nothing out of place. They won't bore you with neverending solos or unneccesary parts. And that's precisely the thing I like the most: the simplicity in their music and, at the same time, their efficiency to create something new and fresh in a genre in which everything seems to be invented...

You'll find in this album different tempos; fast songs, mid tempo, some instrumentals. Mind-blowing songs such as the ultra-fast "Plague Rider", the opener "Stigmatized", "Immortal Death" (a Satanic Slaughter song) and "Cannonfodder", or heavy midtempos such as "Draw Blood" with a catchy riff and "Ashes", with a keyboard background in which a picture the band playing in a graveyard...

Anyways, I've liked this band since their first album, "Restless & Dead" (which I still consider their masterpiece) came out. I was really looking forward to this album and they didn't let me down...I find their style very appealing to my musical taste...I hope you will too!

SEPTEMBER, 2006.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a combination of American thrash...from overseas, January 14, 2007

By 

king beagley "metal maven" (warsaw, in usa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Don't Fear the Reaper (Audio CD)

during my listening to this album, I was able to pick up overtones of Overkill, Exodus, Megadeth, Testament,and Slayer. I don't know who Toxine sounds like, because this is the first Witchery album I have purchased. I hope a new album comes out because this one is KKKKKKKKiller. purchase this if you like Anthrax, Megadeth, Carnal Forge, The Haunted, Slayer, Overkill, Kreator, Sacred Reich (R.I.P.), Forbidden (R.I.P.), Flotsam & Jetsam, Horrorscope (?), Pantera (R.I.P.), Testament, Overkill, Exodus, Demiricous, Sodom, Destruction, and Rumpelstiltskin Grinder.