After being in hibernation - not to mention the numerous black and evil witch spells - for about five years the all star Heavy / Black / Thrash band of Witchery comes back from the dead declaring that they are not afraid of their enemies but mostly that they do not fear the Reaper.
As it is extremely well known Witchery consists of Jensen (also with  The Haunted),  Richard Corpse,  Toxine, Sharlee D'Angelo (also of  Arch Enemy and  Mercyful Fate, among others) and Martin Axenrot (also in  Bloodbath, and on tour with  Opeth). The album kicks off with Disturbing The Beast, an instrumental pounding with its rhythm straight from the very depths of hell - which gets us into the meaning of the album - and enters us into the realm of the next masterpiece, Stigmatized, a straightforward Heavy Metal song combined with a catchy Witchery riff and rhythm.
The massacre carries on with Draw Blood and The Ritual and then you will meet a semi-experimental evil eerie song called Ashes which sounds like Jeff Hannemman listening to Fields of The Nephilim and Dead Can Dance at the same time.
The next two songs are the best ones from Don't Fear The Reaper in my humble opinion and of course we are talking about Plague Rider and Damned in Hell! Heavy and fast, walking on the razor's edge all the time with the famous Witchery groove plus many tempo changes - thrashing your guts out and leading you to... Crossfixation, another classic song with a catchy chorus. In order to make the listening of the album even more interesting, Witchery very cleverly inserted an instrumental The Wait Of The Pyramids just to precede the cover of Satanic Slaughter's Immortal Death.
Styx is another example of what Witchery means - heavy, slow with many tempo changes and above all evil attitude. Another magnificent rhythmic instrumental piece which can be found here is War Piece which together with The Wait Of The Pyramids and Disturbing The Beast will ensure you that the band can not only write evil songs with lyrics but also pure heavy instrumental Metal diamonds.
The album ends with Cannonfodder, a really fast song with a thrashy feeling, a heavy chorus and hopefully a promise for the next Witchery album! To sum it up, I think that the 5 year wait for this album was worth it!
All the things you adored in the past about Witchery are also found here! Evil vocals combined with very clever riff writing, catchy tunes and melodies - without deviating from the main meaning of songwriting - nice leads and above all Heavy Metal songs! No guitar exercises or crappy atmospheric experimentations but pure, enjoyable music. Of course there some weak points in a few parts of the album - as it is normally expected - but that will not spoil your overall opinion for this album.
During the 45 minutes and 44 seconds of Don't Fear The Reaper, you will find yourselves surrounded by a wall built up by Thrash / Black guitar riffery (another excellent rhythm and lead work performed by Mr. Jensen and Mr.  Richard Corpse - glorious surname!), blast beats and intense drumming but most of all pure Heavy Metal attitude and a will to offer good quality music. Don't Fear The Reaper was recorded at Berno Studios in fall 2004 and Tue Madsen was recruited to mix their catchy and precise yet thrashing Metal tunes at his Antfarm Studios which are also used by bands such as The Haunted, Heaven Shall Burn and Mnemic. You must additionally know that the exceptional minimalistic cover was designed by Diaz.
- Album Highlights: Disturbing The Beast, Stigmatized, Plague Rider, Damned In Hell and The Wait of the Pyramids. An extra fucking crazy Carlsberg yahoo, dedication and thanks goes to Greg Restless and Undead!