[ALBUM REVIEW] Witchery - In his Infernal Majesty's Service

1. Lavey-athan
2.  Zoroast
3.  Netherworld Emperor
4.  Nosferatu
5. The Burning of Salem
6. Gilded Fang
7.  Empty Tombs
8.  In Warm Blood
9. Escape from Dunwich Valley
10.  Feed the Gun
11. Oath Breaker

Genre - Black/Modern thrash

Truth be told, Witchery were a band that had been completely buried in the recesses of my my mind for the last ten years or so, and not without good reason either as except for their pretty solid "Restless and Dead" debut, they were utterly middle of the road and run-of-mill as far as black thrash bands came. So upon receiving their latest "In His Infernal Majesty's Service", part of me while still surprised they still actually existed, was hoping for something a little more engaging than previous efforts. So how does it hold up then in relation to their previous endeavours? Well as feared it's more of the same unfortunately. They're still at the Blackened Thrash, Aura Noir-ish side of things, though have managed to create a sound here which edges closer to the modern day Exodus end of the spectrum rather than the old Slayer influences from the debut. The production is big and bruising and the guitars have a substantial groove to their fast riffing, one such thing that there is plenty of here, it's just a pity they're all rather vanilla with very little hooks on the album that stand out. Vocals have always been a weak point for Witchery, and again is such the case here consisting of a rather one-dimensional and half-assed Black metal rasp from the Legion replacement, Angus Norder. Tracks range from the high-tempoed and frenzied such as "The Burning of Salem" to the more mid paced tracks "Empty Tombs" and "Nosferatu", the latter having one of the most mind numbingly irritating chourses ever. Certainly I feel some may find something of interest here, but for me it just all sounds a bit too sterile and methodical in my opinion,  they just end up sounding like another decrepit old thrash band where any ounce of inspiration dissipated years ago. For me they've always been a minor irrelevancy and with "In his Infernal Majesty's Service" this pretty much remains unchanged. With the likes of Destroyer 666, Desaster and Vektor all releasing fantastic albums this year, this just begs the question; why bother?

4/10


Sounds like - Aura Noir, Modern day Exodus, The Haunted


Originally written for http://www.metalireland.com