Cries from the Quiet World: Angel Witch "Angel Witch (2010 Reissue, Remastered, 2CD, 30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition, Digipak, UK, Sanctuary Records, 2741049/2741049)"

domingo, 9 de febrero de 2025

Angel Witch "Angel Witch (2010 Reissue, Remastered, 2CD, 30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition, Digipak, UK, Sanctuary Records, 2741049/2741049)"

Angel Witch are a British heavy metal band which formed in London in 1976. Despite never achieving major success, they were an integral part of the early 1980s new wave of British heavy metal (NWOBHM) movement, and have been acknowledged as an influence by many bands of the then-emerging thrash, speed, doom and extreme metal genres.

Angel Witch have released five studio albums to date, and have undergone numerous lineup changes throughout their 49-year career, leaving frontman and lead guitarist Kevin Heybourne as the only constant member.

The band formed, originally under the name of Lucifer, with guitarist and vocalist Kevin Heybourne, guitarist Rob Downing, drummer Steve Jones, and bassist Barry Clements. Lucifer split and Jones joined Bruce Dickinson to form Speed. The remnants of Lucifer became Angel Witch, with the exceptions of Clements, who was replaced by Kevin Riddles, and Jones, who was replaced by Steve Coleman. The following year Downing left the band.

Angel Witch's first song to achieve mainstream popularity was "Baphomet", which was included on a compilation titled Metal for Muthas. This song drew a fair amount of attention to the band, and they signed a recording deal with EMI. However, the deal was cancelled, due to manager Ken Heybourne refusing to hand Angel Witch over to professional management, and the poor performance of their first single released under the EMI label in 1980. Entitled "Sweet Danger", it lasted a single week on the UK Singles Chart. This was their only UK chart listing and despite being quite an achievement for a NWOBHM group, spending a single week at No. 75 (the lowest position in the charts) meant they were listed as the "least successful chart act of all time" in the Guinness Book of Hit Records. This same feat was repeated by fellow NWOBHM group Grand Prix with their Keep on Believing 7" in 1983.

In 1980, Bronze Records picked up the band and they recorded and released their debut album, self-titled Angel Witch.

Angel Witch is the first album by British heavy metal band Angel Witch. The album was released in 1980 through Bronze Records, and since then re-released in four editions over the years. The cover features a painting formerly attributed to John Martin titled The Fallen Angels Entering Pandemonium. The album made Angel Witch one of the key bands in the new wave of British heavy metal (NWOBHM) scene, and has proven influential on subsequent movements, particularly on then-upcoming thrash, speed, doom and extreme metal artists.

Angel Witch received generally very positive reviews. The only exception was the very first review of the album by journalist Paul Suter for the influential British music paper Sounds in 1980. Suter defined the album "appalling" and "weedy", marred by a "destructively dreadful" production and by weak vocals. Another Sounds reviewer Malcolm Dome, on the contrary, loved the album for its aggressiveness mixed with melody and declared it the "album of the year" together with Girlschool's Demolition. Canadian reviewer Martin Popoff says that this is "the only Angel Witch album of deep importance", being "the first panoramic black metal statement of the modern era"; its "mix of gothic melody, sinister surprise and scorching dense riffery" establishes "the band as genuinely scary" and "isolated and elevated from the fun-loving metal community" of the time. Mike Stagno of the Sputnikmusic editorial staff reminds how Angel Witch "is regarded by many as a NWOBHM classic alongside the likes of Iron Maiden, On Through the Night, and Wheels of Steel" and, despite some flaws in the general sound, it is "a gem"; he adds that the band Angel Witch "never really achieved what they deserved." The AllMusic review underlines this last concept and defines the album a "metal classic". Chad Bowar of About.com recommends the album, which deserve much recognition for being one of the NWOBHM albums responsible for "shaping the rise of thrash metal in the mid '80s" and "a major part of one of the most important eras of metal".

The opening track "Angel Witch" was featured in the 2009 video game, Brütal Legend.

Tracklist:

Disc 1