01022014 - Witchfinder General "Death Penalty!

Somehow this band has always escaped my attention. Could it be the less than PC album covers? It's not that I have anything against boobs, but the fact that I was but a young lad when this album first came out might have been more intimidating than alluring - I don't know... So, time to right this wrong and check out what is now known as an obscure proto-doom metal cult classic to some, a NWOBHM masterpiece to others and that album with that topless bird on the sleeve to a generation of giggling adolescent boys. There's plenty of Sabbath here, which is obviously a good thing, and the riffing and general feel is pretty cool. The tin foil production lets the album down quite a bit, but I guess that's only to be expected from an album presumably recorded on a shoestring budget on label that never amounted to much (yet somehow still exists!), so let's just call it "minimalistic". There are some brilliant songs on here, but I don't feel that I have missed out on the greatest metal album ever by waiting 32 years to check it out.