UMUR
"Witchburner" is an EP release by Swedish metal act Witchery. The EP was released through Necropolis Records in March 1999. It bridges the gap between the debut full-length studio album "Restless & Dead (1998)" and the band´s second full-length studio album "Dead, Hot and Ready (1999)". There have been no changes in the lineup since the debut album, so the five-piece of Toxine (Vocals), Mique (Drums), Richard Corpse (lead guitars), Patrik Jensen (rhythm guitars), and Sharlee D'Angelo (Bass, lead guitars), is still intact. Some of the members are rather prolific and are also featured in acts like Mercyful Fate, Arch Enemy, and The Haunted.
"Witchburner" is a 7 track, 25:21 minutes long EP, featuring 4 cover tracks and 3 originals. The covers are "Fast as a Shark" by Accept, "I Wanna Be Somebody" by W.A.S.P., "Riding on the Wind" by Judas Priest, and "Neon Knights" by Black Sabbath. Pretty good material choices considering Witchery´s usual traditional oriented heavy/speed/thrash metal style. Toxine is of course a more extreme type vocalist than the guys who sang on the originals, but he gives it his all, and the raw vocals generally work really well on the covers. I think Toxine´s voice and delivery work the best on "Fast as a Shark" and "I Wanna Be Somebody", because both Udo Dirkschneider (Accept) and Blackie Lawless (W.A.S.P.) are rather extreme vocalists in their own right, while especially "Neon Knights" doesn´t work as well, because Dio´s vocal style is more melodic, and Toxine isn´t fully able to do Dio´s vocal lines justice with his hoarse croak. The three original tracks are of a good quality and pretty much continue the music style of the debut album.
The musicianship is on a high level, and the material is well produced too, so "Witchburner" is overall a great quality EP release by Witchery. There´s both enough quantity and quality to justify a 3.5 star (70%) rating.