Album Review: Witchery - Nightshade
Reviewed by Richard Oliver
Rising out of the ashes are Swedish blackened thrashers Witchery who return with their eighth album Nightside. What sets this apart from previous albums in the Witchery discography is that Nightside is a concept album “dealing with witches and witchfinders, curses and charms, and the overpowering stench of religious brutality”. This is also the recording debut of new bassist Victor Brandt (also of Dimmu Borgir) who has been the bands on/off live bassist for quite a while so with the departure of former bassist Sharlee D’Angelo (also of Arch Enemy), Victor was the obvious choice.
Despite having a concept and storyline running through it, musically Nightside is what we come to expect from Witchery which is a mix of old school thrash with nods to death metal, black metal and old school heavy metal such as Mercyful Fate. There is an urgency and intensity on Nightside that seemed to be lacking on the previous album (2017’s I Am Legion) which is evident on snarling ferocious blasts of blackened thrash such as Witching Hour, Popecrusher, Churchburner and A Forest Of Burning Coffins (featuring Jeff Walker of Carcass on guest vocals) whilst other standouts included the old school black metal vibes of Don’t Burn The Witch, the punishing groove of Crucifix And Candle and the doom laden title track which closes the album.
Nightside is a tight, fast and violent album which although a concept album can be dissected apart with the songs all standing alone on their own merits. Unlike a lot of concept albums which can feel a little bloated, Nightside is a nice trim 35 minutes though there are a couple of fairly pointless instrumental interludes which affect the pacing slightly but these are really short and are over before you know it. Nightside is a strong entry in the Witchery discography with a nice mix of black, thrash and death metal and plenty of nods to the metal of the old school. A fun little extreme metal album which is guaranteed to have horns in the air and bodies slamming when these songs are brought out in the upcoming live shows.
