Sweden is really a paradise for Metal fans, because the bands from the country are, in the greater part of them, excellent. At the same time that some in other countries try to imitate others works or the past, Swedish bands learned the lessons from their ancestors, and write things in their own way, creating personalized Metal albums. This is the case from the excellent quintet WITCHERY, the Black/Thrash Metal demons from Linköping, that are now back with their sixth album, the torpedo called "In His Infernal Majesty's Service".

They come with their new vocalist, Angus Norder, and a new drummer, Chris Barkensjö, that inherit the same aggressive and harsh spirit the band always had, uniting forces with the veterans Rickard and Jansen on guitars, and Sharlee on bass guitar to unleash an excellent album, keeping the same style and brutality, but with that bitter and elegant touch that always permeates their albums. The style did not change, but evolved, becoming a bit more aggressive and the Black Metal side of their musical work is more evident than before.

Jensen joined forces with Daniel Bergstrand to produce the album (and Daniel worked on the mixing as well), having George Nerantzis on the mastering. The result is a sound quality that sounds aggressive, nasty and heavy, but with enough care to make it clear to our ears. The artwork for the cover, done by Andreas Diaz Pettersson, is simple, but bearing the same spirit of the band's songs and lyrics.

The band is unleashing Hell on 13 excellent songs, all of them really amazing. But as I have to point to some to give my dear readers some references, so "Lavey-athan" with its excellent guitars and drums, the very good tempos and bass guitar presence on "Zoroast", the catchy guitar riffs of "Nosferatu", the Black/Thrash attack heard on the brutal rhythmic session on "Gilded Fang", the abrasive vocal arrangements of "Empty Tombs" and on "In Warm Blood", the excellent guitars and chorus of "Escape from Dunwich Valley" (here, some excellent melodies can be heard on the solos, maybe a clear influence from MERCYFUL FATE on their work), a the hooking bass and drums works on "Feed the Gun" (again the vocals did a perfect work as well).

Unfortunately, "In His Infernal Majesty's Service" didn't arrive in my hands before my Top 10 list for this year was written. But as it came later as well, I personally put it between the top 10 albums of 2017. No, it's not so soon. They really deserve it!