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Witchery > Symphony for the Devil > Reviews
Witchery - Symphony for the Devil

Unholy symphony - 87%

gasmask_colostomy, July 25th, 2010
Written based on this version: 2001, CD, Music for Nations

I didn't know much about Witchery when I bought this album beyond that I thought they played thrash metal and probably included Jensen of cult Swedish acts such as Satanic Slaughter and Seance. However, I knew Jensen from The Haunted who I had been an admiring fan of for a couple of years. My wish in buying this album was to hear a progression of The Haunted's precise and energetic riffing, along with violent vocals and some top-drawer solos.

Did I get my wish? More than a year after buying the album, I still don't know. It transpires that Witchery were more or less Satanic Slaughter, a band that incorporated black and death metal stylings to a fairly primitive thrash metal template. And that was what struck me as I first listened to this album. After the atmospheric sample of swirling winds is chopped off by the opening riff of 'The Storm', I was under the impression that I had bought a black metal album: ordinarily this is nothing I'm averse to, I was simply surprised. Of course, I was wrong though. Apart from being among the fastest and heaviest songs on Symphony for the Devil, 'The Storm' had the frostbitten main riff of a black metal band and the demonic snarl of Toxine sometimes cutting through the madness, sometimes choosing to hide within it.

The atmosphere continues, although often to a lesser extent, on songs such as 'Omens and 'Inquisition', both adding more bounce and groove to the flat-out approach of the opener. 'Omens' begins slowly, the sound of crows and a distant bell evoking a sinister medieval image with pastoral overtones, showing the band can handle the music at a slower pace. Looking for fast songs will throw up a few satisfying results. Though it cheekily pinches a riff from Metal Church's 'Merciless Onslaught' (another very fine instrumental thrasher), 'Bone Wars' will snap your head off and spit down the hole. Probably heavier than 'The Storm' and easily as fast, I could see Jensen laughing down at me while throwing out vicious riff after vicious riff and then sending Richard Corpse off on a reeling, dizzying solo before ramming the song home after under 3 minutes. 'Wicked' picks up the pace again, as does 'Shallow Grave', and both are memorable but slightly less than vicious than the other speedfests.

Around two thirds of the way through, the album does fall slightly flat, with the drawn out 'Called for by Death' preceding another instrumental in 'Hearse of the Pharoahs'. Neither song is fast, though 'Called for...' has an engaging chorus riff while 'Hearse...' pales in comparison to 'Bone Mill' due to its wandering and uncertain nature, even if they are clearly designed for different purposes. Perhaps it would have been advisable for the band to choose just one instrumental song.

I have the edition with two bonus tracks, though they appear fairly common on many versions. 'Enshrined' rides in on a dirty, bouncing riff and promptly carries the listener through the confines of Toxine's tomb (underneath a darkened moon, of course). I was puzzled when I saw this was a bonus track as I liked it beyond the rest of the album, since Witchery combine the elements that make them great; the pace, the groove, the great harmonies, an explosive solo and some great creepy lyrics from Toxine. To be honest, I've never really noticed 'The One Within' after that, but it's true that it does have its moments.

Symphony For The Devil is perhaps Witchery's most ambitious album, marrying the slightly heavier, more thrashy sound of their classic debut with the slow-burn and atmospherics that had only briefly appeared to this point. This culminates in Witchery's most diverse album, showcasing all points of the band's sound and creating some ripping songs in the process, despite some weaker cuts. However, songs such as 'Hearse of the Pharoahs' and 'Called for by Death' do have their merits and are instantly forgiveable since they share an album with 'Unholy Wars', 'Bone Mill', and 'Enshrined'.

I think he'll be sticking with Beethoven, thanks - 67%

autothrall, June 4th, 2010

By 2001, Witchery was already a pretty huge name out there, having numerous tours beneath their belts and seeing a larger level of momentum than many of the members had experienced in their former bands. Expectations were now enormous in general, and the Swedish made a fair effort to suppress them with its third long player, a Symphony for the Devil, and a new drummer initiated into the scythe wielding ranks: Martin Axe, who has played also in Satanic Slaughter and Nifelheim (among others), and currently with Opeth. With their new skin smasher, and a clear, bolder production than either of the previous records, the band managed to produce an appreciable, but unmemorable album.

The major problem with Symphony for the Devil is the band had already done this, twice, and far better. So aside from the arguably better mix of the guitars, and added psychedelic, nostalgic elements (like the riffs in "Enshrined"), there is not a lot to write home to the morgue about. Toxiene gives a pretty level performance to Dead, Hot & Ready, but here it doesn't feel so novel. Still, the band manages to remain vigorous, exciting and I would even risk the term 'mature' in describing the composition. I think a few of the songs here certainly would function in a mix with the best tracks off the earlier albums, but I only seriously enjoyed a handful of them.

I'll start with the more obvious tracks, like the instrumental "Hearse of the Pharaohs", which I must add, sounds almost exactly like something Mercyful Fate would have written for their 90s reunion effort In the Shadows, with its Shermann/Wead writhing guitar patterns (perhaps a D'Angelo connection here). It's not the first time Witchery has composed a successful instrumental (reference "Born in the Night" from the debut), and it might not have suffered from Toxiene's presence, but its pretty cool to kick back with, especially if you're in the mood for some archaic desert nightmares. "Enshrined" benefits from the flange in the guitars, creating an instant, eerie mystique that flows effortless across D'Angelo's lines (Sharlee has a pretty ribald presence on the entire album). Another of the album's strongest would be "Inquisition", in particular the excellent riffing that surrounds and supports the lead, or the gang shouts out beyond the bridge.

Then there are a smattering of tracks which simply sound like those the band has already written for Dead, Hot & Ready. "Omens" reminds me of "Full Moon" in spots, and "Unholy Wars" recounts "A Paler Shade of Death". The other instrumental on this album, "Bone Mill" has a few riffs that sound suspiciously similar to "Merciless Onslaught", an instrumental from the Metal Church debut! The remainder of Symphony for the Devil is well, simply put, not all that inspiring. "Wicked", "Shallow Grave" and "None Buried Deeper..." wrangle on past the listener but lack the smug chagrin of the band's finer material, and though "The Storm" starts with a promise, and peters out to some boring fast chug rhythms with little to no real payload. "The One Within" is extremely flat until the scraping noise of the leads, and "Called for by Death" sounds like a pretty weak effort to mimick something from South of Heaven.

Perhaps Symphony for the Devil is a sign of a burned out idea, a hollow shell from which the last rays of ghoulish ambition have fled, to be replaced by a cycling of the motions. The cover art, lyrics and production of the record suffice to these eyes and ears, but very few of the audio components have a lasting impact on the psyche. No flitting fantasies of graveyard makeout sessions with a witching slut will infect your brain here, only a few morose monoliths of solid riffing, one of which does not even have vocals. Probably Jensen in particular would feel this burn, after all the guy is writing riffs like crazy for The Haunted in addition to this band, and the two have arguably similar styles when it comes to the guitar thrashing. This is not really a bad album...the band still play the horror themes pretty straight, and explore a few that they hadn't on the past albums. But compared to the first two, it is severely lacking in the black magic department.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

Modern Retro Thrash - 83%

troublemagnet, September 25th, 2004

Witchery’s “ Symphony for the Devil” is a recent example of the post-80’s thrash “movement”, if you consider the few bands attempting this Kreator/ Sodom /Possessed deaththrash, a movement. Witchery ‘s sound is very similar to the aforementioned bands with modern production. This is not an insult to Witchery. Those bands were terrific and were a great inspiration to future bands.
While those bands were legends, your enjoyment of Witchery and bands of their ilk( the Haunted, Dew-Scented,E-Force, etc.) ultimately will come down to your age and your personal historic knowledge (or lack of) of metal.
That’s not to say there isn’t good , solid, professionally executed bludgeoning here. There definitely is. The vocals are decent sounding – a fair comparison to early Possessed, and Voi Vod with a touch of Petrozza comes to mind. “Symphony for the Devil” has terrific shredding guitar solo’s and capable production- but ultimately it fails to break any new ground for extreme metal. And as a discriminating metal fan of almost twenty years(!) at this stage of the game I need to hear something new.
Of course, if you’re a teenager that’s tired of nu-metal and hardcore and want something just as heavy but better than those sub-genres and you don’t want something from the 80’s ‘cause of the mostly sub-standard thrash productions- then by all means indulge- your not making a bad choice at all. As for me It will hang around in one of troublemagnet’s many CD towers and will get an occasional spin. For the jaded metal veteran like me who believe the epitome of extreme metal has been taken to it’s logical conclusion in such albums as Reign in Blood , Pleasure to Kill, Scream Bloody Gore and Scum it may be a slight yawner.

Ehhhhh... - 44%

UltraBoris, June 6th, 2004

Oh, it's better than The Haunted, by a lot, but it really isn't particularly amazing, especially not when it's masqueraded as a speed metal album. It really isn't - nor is it thrash. It just kind of sits there, mocking the classic genres by never getting the intensity past "5" or so, where your average classic speed/thrash LP is at worst an "8". The album is quite overproduced, and has gratuitous harsh vocals, and the riffs are very pedestrian. Oh and it just isn't heavy at all.

The highlight is probably Bone Mill, which is a COMPLETE fucking ripoff of Metal Church's Merciless Onslaught. Well, if you can't write your own classics, take them from someone else. Makes sense to me.

The rest is just far too melodic for its own good... opener "The Storm" is fast and furious, and is actually pretty good, even with that cheesy chorus riff. Then the rest kinda go downhill from there. It's almost the same song over and over again, but everything slightly poorer than the last. The faster riffs just lack any real definition, and then you have the horrible midpaced instrumental sections, like in Called For By Death or the entire Hearse of the Pharaohs, which go nowhere and accomplish nothing.

I haven't heard their previous albums entirely, but the sample songs I've heard appear to be MUCH heavier... The Executioner and The Howling come to mind. The Howling is pretty much excellent thrash - which is absent entirely from this album. That's really the main problem - it's not thrash, and it's not really even speed metal. Other than the first song, most of this album is a midpaced boneless affair, that lacks the power to be called power metal. It's melody-based, as opposed to riff-based, and thus has more in common with the Gothenburg sound than with classic metal.

The album goes from okay to bad to pretty much unlistenable by the end. There aren't any terrible Faith no More moments, but by about song five, you've heard it all. Again, the only real highlight is the Metal Church cover.