Witchfinder General- Friends of Hell

I don't think I have to mention the importance of Witchfinder General to an any Doom Metal and NWOBHM fan. Along with Pagan Altar, they were the only band in NWOBHM doom scene who released a full length album. This is their second album and their last with their singer Zeeb Parkers. Afterwards they have split in year I don’t know. They have reformed in 2006.

At the beginning looks at the cover art. The band is standing in front of the church and attacking/torturing some women (probably they are prostitutes). It is really a cool cover art. A special thing about Witchcraft General is that the band had similar motives on the first cover art Woman and a religious symbol (on the first album there was a grave). A cover art show us some of the lyrical themes WG use on their records: Sex, woman, witches, occultist/ religious themes and drugs.

The riffs are strong, heavy in doomy songs such as Love on Smack, Last Chance, Friends of Hell and Quiteus. The guitarist Phil Cope is also strong is ballad types of songs, he plays very sentimental in song I lost you. He has even improved and I think even Tony Iommi would be proud on him for displaying such a skill on guitar work. Sadly, the others guys are not Bill, Ozzy and Geezer. Zeep Parker speaks at the same register as Ozzy does, but he often sounds cheesy ( Music and I lost you). His lyrical work is good at some song but again his lyrical and vocal work ruined the song I lost you. Bassist has some moments and it is better than on the first effort, but it is still weak on some songs. Drums are very average.

So why are WFG so classic, cult band within the doom metal scene? Their music is quite unoriginal (they are usually considered as Sabbath clones). This album tried to capture the music, the style of Black Sabbath and thus they have influenced many newer bands including Hour of 13. They were one of the first bands who played true Doom metal and that are why this albums earns a classic standard. It has many mistakes and it is absolutely not perfect, but some songs are classic masterpieces. The strength of those songs were important for that time, for future and for now.

Trouble- Run to the Light

Anyone who is a fan of Traditional Doom Metal and/or Stoner metal, knows the name of Chicago doomsters Trouble. Everybody should also know that they made a classics like Psalm 9 and Run to the Light and The Skull, which is an unappreciated gem for me. Run to the Light is Trouble third studio album and it slightly different from the The Skull. Firstly the Line-up has changed on the rhythm section. The biggest change is probably on the lyrics: they are more miserable and darker. Also biblical themes are not present on the album although the Trouble were still blessed by the Christ at that time...

There are some changes on musical territory. This is probably the most up-tempo album so far and album is even more influenced by psychedelic rock and progressive music. Otherwise it is like old Trouble you know. There are a lot of rhythm changes: From really slow doom parts to speed metal parts. Double guitars attack reminds me of an imagined combination of Iommi and Adrian Smith.
Sadly this is the last Trouble Doom Metal era record. On the next album they changed directions to Stoner Metal and I can't enjoy the Stoner Metal era so much as I enjoy the old Trouble. There is one complain on this record, that the album is really too short, because there are only 8 songs here and the full duration is only 38 min.

Personal highlights are: On Borrowed Time, Run to the Light, The beginning

Saint Vitus- Saint Vitus

(This review is dedicated to Armando Acosta, who died on 25.12.2010. RIP Amando)

This is classical doom metal album and arguably it is the first real Doom Metal song. Of course, Black Sabbath had their Doom Metal songs, but they hadn’t truly “created” a scene. Like all traditional Doom Metal, Saint Vitus are influenced by Black Sabbath and the most influential Hardcore Punk band Blag Flag. Saint Vitus were also signed at SST records, which was Greg Ginn’s own label. An interesting fact is that Saint Vitus influenced Black Flag on My War album.

An album could be divided on two parts: first part is consisted of two tracks: Saint Vitus and White Magic/ Black Magic. The second part has three tracks: Zombie Hunger, The Psychopath and Burial at Sea. So why was I writing about Saint Vitus influences and why have I divided a début album on two pieces? All songs on those two parts have their own influence: the influence on the first part is mainly Black Flag and songs in second part are mainly influenced by Black Sabbath.

Let’s finally start with the main part of the review. First song is self- titled track Saint Vitus. It has punkish riff -Black Flagish riff. The tempo is mid paced and lyrics are about the saint called Vitus and they have a warning purpose. Reagers ( vocalist) is singing really passionately here.

Next song: White Magic/ Black magic gave an inspiration for the name of this blogJ. It is really one of my favourites. It is again mid paced tempo, but in the end there is a doomy riff and slow tempo. The songs ends with Reagers’s shout You Optimistic Fool and it is really a memorable end of the song. Saint Vitus's lyrics were always great and usually actual. This is no excepcion ( they are probably about someone who wants to seize power and none can stop him at the end).

Next three songs are slow-paced. Slow riffs create a depressed atmosphere and solos in them are emotional and in vain of Iommi and Hendrix. All of them are not so memorable as first two, but that is typical for Doom Genre...

Highlights are certainly the Scott Reagers performance, lyrics and Dave Chandler’s solos. This album is not perfect. There are some mistakes with repetition and in my option the next album is even better...

In a Spleen- Nativity ( Demo)

In a Spleen were a really obscure band. They have only made two demos and one split CD and then they have disbanded. They were in Tolmin, a Slovenian city. Tolmin is nowadays well-known because each year there is a Metal festival called Metalcamp, but before Metalcamp, Tolmin was not one of the important cities for Metal. The reason I am going to present this band simply is, because they are from my country ( yes, I am from Slovenia), because they were the first Doom Metal band from Slovenia and because they are really obscure band and even Slovenians doesn’t know much about it. This demo is from 1994 and it is their last material ever recorded

 An interesting thing for In a Spleen is that they had a flute player (which is quite  uncommon for Doom Metal). The riffs on all three songs are a strong point of this demo. They are quite heavy and in vain of Pentagram and Black Sabbath. A demo starts with song: In the sun, which  is more upbeat song and it is heavy metal song, that you could compare to Pentagram. It has some nice riffs, however I feel that In Spleen could do it better. Next song is called She-Nude Female Figure and it is a nice doomy song. The best song on this demo is the last track  self- tilted track Nativity. It is the longest track here and it is over 7 min long. It has again good riffs and a flute adds a nice atmosphere. It is the most original track on this demo and shows that In a Spleen had talent for writing a good Doom song...

Well, I think this demo is not bad demo for our Slovenian scene. Those guys had talent and it is shame that they disbanded before they made an album... There were things to improve of course ( especially the vocalist is the worst chain in the link), but that makes a solid demo at least.