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Five years between albums is a long time, too damn long. I had been wondering for a while what was going on in Witchery's camp, especially after their web site had apparently disappeared. So finally here we have a new Witchery album. The first thing that one notices is that this one is overall slower than their previous offerings, and the production is rather polished for a heavy/thrash album, something that started with "Symphony for the Devil" wayyyy back in 2001. Their early albums especially had a kind of "fun" vibe to them, but "Don't Fear the Reaper" is darker, more gloomy and heavier, all in part due to a much slower pace that helps bring out the added heaviness. A slight change of direction for the band but without sacrificing their signature sound in the process - the guitars for example are unmistakably Witchery. And fear not, there's still a few fast-paced tracks that are more along the lines of their earlier work in here as well.

While I don't find this album to be as good as the previous ones - some of the "charm" is lacking, it has been on repeat play ever since I got it and I don't feel like I'm going to grow tired of it any time soon - call it the Witchery effect. A damn good album that should please most of their existing fanbase, and hopefully they won't make us wait five years for the next one.