Restless and Dead

1. The Reaper
2. Witchery
3. Midnight at the Graveyard
4. The Hangman
5. Awaiting the Exorcist
6. All Evil
7. House of the Raining Blood
8. Into Purgatory
9. Born in the Night
10. Restless and Dead

I finally got this in the mail after many delays and false alarms. While I was waiting, I got to read the six billion reviews of this album, building up more anticipation and sublimially forming an prejudiced opinion in my mind. This album will kick ass, it HAS to kick ass, because everyone tells me so. So, I throw this in, and within the first 30 seconds I can hear what all the fuss is about. Some may be surprised to realize that this is a full 5 piece band, since most promo shots only feature two members. But Witchery is also not a side project, as both Jensen (The Haunted) and Sharlee D'Angelo (Mercyful Fate) are evidently as dedicated to this as their mainstays. Better for us, as Restless and Dead offers us 10 tracks of instantly classic metal. No joke, to my ears this may be the best combination of the last two decades of metal. And an independent release? C'mon, you just gotta support these guys. To get into descriptions of sound, it all seems familiar, but it's done so well, it comes out as Witchery. Maybe a little bit of M. Fate and The Haunted, I also hear some Bewitched in the later tracks. As I stated though, it's just Witchery now, and can be left as such. The album glides through from start to finish, with some really fluid axework. Suitably impressed by the drumming, as the music dictates an even unegotistical hand in here, which is exactly what we get. Vomit Vox are reminiscent of the NWOSDM, also part of what keeps this in the 90's sound. Yeah, the imagery is pretty "dark", and I could see high school kids running around the local graveyard with this in a portable deck, but Witchery are more than that, as if they've just been waiting to provide us a glimpse of what's possible when you just want to make good music.
8 1/2 out of 10