07. Angel Witch Angel Witch 1980 (Bronze)
Heavy metal
A fabled metal album that few metal bands could match.
Overview
Angel Witch were one of the most notable bands of the NWOBHM and that notability was somewhat surprising considering that the band only ever released one studio album in the movement’s main period of the early 1980s and what an album it was as well! Angel Witch had already followed the much maligned path of a lot of newbie bands, in that its members were constantly shuffling about and they had also gone through several name changes of which Lucifer had been one such previous name of the band, before the delightful Angel Witch had been finally decided upon. In all this time though, the one central factor had always been frontman Kevin Heybourne who was the band’s guitarist, vocalist and songwriter, and as an artist he certainly excelled where it mattered and can now be seen as something of a highly talented songwriter. He was also way beyond many of his counterparts in terms of songwriting ability and was truly capable of dishing out memorable metallic melodies that few could match. Angel Witch as a band came across as a combination of Black Sabbath, largely due to the band’s gothic and somewhat darker influences and had grasped what melodic metal was all about, they were certainly influenced by the speed of Motorhead as well, but as said it was in the songwriting department that the band were well and truly a cut above the rest. The band first appeared on the previously mentioned
Metal for Muthas compilation album which came out in the early part of 1980 and Angel Witch’s contribution to the album was “Baphomat” which was then followed up by the single “Sweet Danger” which also appeared on their debut set, before then label EMI gave up on the band. The band were quickly picked up by Bronze Records and soon went into the studio to release their debut album the eponymous
Angel Witch. It should be noted, that Angel Witch by the time of their debut already had a sizeable following in both the UK and Europe, and were certainly seen as one of the better metal bands to come out of London, given the fact that the hotbed of the NWOBHM in terms of quality was the Midlands and the North-East. Unfortunately the band were not able to build on their classic debut album and very quickly the whole structure of the band came to a standstill, as both bassist Kevin Riddles and drummer Dave Hogg would join Tytan. Finally despite Kevin Heybourne’s attempts to keep the band together, the end finally came for Angel Witch when Kevin Heybourne himself threw the towel in and joined fellow NWOBHM band Deep Machine, a band who also had a strong local following, but like many bands of their ilk were unable to get a record deal. By 1982 though Kevin Heybourne would once again try to reform the band, but to no avail and it wouldn’t be until 1984 that another attempt at reforming took place, this time with Dave Tattum being brought in on vocals and drummer Dave Hogg also returning as well. The long-awaited sophomore set
Screamin’ ‘n’ Bleedin’ which came out almost five years on from the debut, would fall far short of that classic debut album despite its lusty and juicy album cover!
Verdict
The Angel Witch debut was the classic example of an album that split opinions between critics on its release in March 1980, as certain critics regarded the album as an instant classic of the NWOBHM, thanks to its combined aggressive, melodic and sinister feel. Negative reviews criticized the album’s production and called it weedy sounding metal, similar types of adjectives that had been used to describe the Fist debut
Turn the Hell On also in 1980 (a good album that didn’t make the top 20) Obviously most reviewers, fans and myself regard the Angel Witch debut as a classic of the NWOBHM and in any other year it would’ve made a top 3 position, but given the fact that 1980 was such a stellar year the best ever so far, even position no.7 still seems a lofty height for any album being reviewed here! The opening track and the title track “Angel Witch” quickly demonstrates the dominant technical riffs that the band were associated with and these riffs are aptly joined by Kevin Heybourne’s somewhat punk inspired vocals. The energy of the album is quickly maintained on “Atlantis” which very much exemplifies the Angel Witch sound and the again the song hints at the band’s proto-thrash approach. The album’s third track “White Witch” is a bona-fide band classic and goes through a couple of stylistic changes and demonstrates how Kevin Heybourne was able to churn out quality material with relative ease. The same could also be said for the album’s other classics such as “Sorcerers” and “Gorgon” tracks beyond the capabilities of a lot of other metal bands and then of course there is the proto-thrash of the Slayer like “Angel of Death” and another highlight is the short but menacing outro “Devil’s Tower”. The album was something of anomaly at the time of its release and was labelled by some critics as ‘weedy metal’ which may sound strange in hindsight given the albums’ reputation, but remember this was an age where powerful, macho and sexually-alluring sounding vocalists graced both hard rock and heavy metal and Kevin Heybourne hardly fell into these parameters. But over previous years vocalists like Burke Shelley of Budgie and Geddy Lee of Rush (a band followed by heavy rockers) showed that when the music was good, so-called weedy vocals were just as good as the real mcCoy! In many ways Kevin Heybourne’s vocals are one of the real charms when listening to Angel Witch, but sadly he never really felt that comfortable as a vocalist and for this reason he recruited other vocalists like Roger Marsden (who didn’t appear on an album) and Dave Tattum who appeared on
Screamin’ ‘n’ Bleedin’. Musically Kevin Heybourne was recognized as one of the best guitarists of the NWOBHM and as a songwriter he had a talent far beyond most of his rivals. Overall Angel Witch much like their similar counterparts Diamond Head, suffered from a combination of bad luck, bad decisions and bad management which literally doomed them from the word go. By the time of their second album
Screamin’ ‘n’ Bleedin’ five years later, the metal scene had moved on so much that the album was largely irrelevant and resigned the band to the metal locker, a shame really as Kevin Heybourne had more talent than most when it came to dishing out potent melodic metal and kick-ass riffs with a sinister tinge, in fact few could match the Angel Witch debut.
Kevin Heybourne- Guitar/Vocals
Kevin Riddles- Bass/Keyboards
Dave Hogg- Drums
Production- Martin Smith