If you're going to stray this close to King Diamond and Mercyful Fate, you'd better be fucking good at it—and, luckily, Attic impress again with Return of the Witchfinder. They've evolved a bit over the years, and while there's still plenty of King Diamond worship going on—falsetto vocals, twin-guitar harmonies, and all—their songwriting has progressed. They've always had a knack for killer choruses ("Join the Coven," anyone?), and that tradition continues here with "Darkest Rites," the title track, and "Azrael."

What's surprising, and refreshingly so, is that they bring a little more aggression and savagery here. Although they have dabbled in it before, tracks like "Hailstorm and Tempest" and the closer "Synodus Horrenda," for example, feature blastbeats, but generally, Return of the Witchfinder as a whole sounds faster, sharper, and more vicious than their previous albums. In short, this is a must-hear for fans of the band—or for anyone tired of waiting for that long-promised new King Diamond and Mercyful Fate albums that never seem to arrive.