Witchery - "Dead, Hot and Ready" Thrash Metal Album Review

Witchery is a thrash and death metal band from Sweden that has been around since 1997. Their most famous member is bassist Sharlee D’Angelo (Charles Peter Andreason). He plays bass guitar also for Arch Enemy. Witchery’s 2^nd full-length album called "Dead, Hot and Ready" is the band’s 2^nd album released back in 1999. I decided to give this album a review mainly because of the song Full Moon.

What makes Witchery a different kind of thrash metal band? First of all, the vocals are of a low and screeching nature. Thrash metal bands usually have vocalists that sing with very high pitched tones or the vocals of the low, guttural type.

1. Demonication
2. A Paler Shade of Death
3. The Guillotine
4. Resurrection
5. Full Moon
6. The Devil and the Damage Done
7. Dead, Hot and Ready
8. The Devil’s Triangle
9. Call of the Coven
10. On a Black Horse Through Hell

The vocals on this album are of the screeching type similar to Cradle of Filth which is a major weakness of the album. However, the screeching vocals are of a lower pitched sound compared to what I just described. The album is only a little over 33 minutes long, making it shorter than albums such as Kalmah’s Swamplord (36 minutes), Metallica Ride the Lightning (47 minutes) and many of the albums of Children of Bodom. The album is built exclusively on speed. However, it does not have the staccato style that we notice on Metallica’s first album.

The Devil’s Triangle is about sailors taking their ship out to sea. However, they wonder whether they will survive the coming storm, the raging waters that threaten to wash them away. By a remarkable coincidence or not, US thrash metal band Testament has a song called Raging Waters written back in 1987. And then 12 years later, Witchery has a song about sailors trying to ride the waves, through the water as a storm brews because they are trying to avoid the death that came upon their predecessor. On a Black Horse Through Hell is about a warrior that is trying to escape a demon that is chasing him. A Paler Shade of Death is the second song in the album and it starts with a part reminiscent of early Judas Priest before speeding up. I also hear some Mercyful Fate influenced guitar playing especially in the solo of that song. The Guillotine is the third song and this one is about someone that is sentenced to die even though he is accused of crimes that he did not commit. Full Moon is by far the strongest song in the album due to its catchy and melodic nature. The song is about preparing for the end of the world as the moon turns from a crystal white color to that of red and beasts roam the land. Witchery’s guitar playing style could be compared to Slayer because of the speed and the style of the riffs however, Slayer is more complex as a thrash band and they have been more popular. This album is decent and has its outstanding moments. However, there is not enough creativity in order for it to be an elite thrash metal release. This writer would give this album a score of 70 out of 100 points. It is a decent release from this band but the bad vocals also really affect the overall score.