[.ca] Death Penalty

The missing link between BLACK SABBATH and CATHEDRAL:
When I bought this album I was about 13 and a huge Black sabbath fan!How could I resist the name of the band and most of all the cover at that age-by the way I'm not Nicole but Phil, Nicole's husband.Witchfinder General is one of the first Black Sabbath's clones, the voice is VERY close to Ozzy's, the riffs are VERY close to IOMMI's-the solos are pretty FAR but anyway..., the songs are VERY Sabbath-alike. Technicaly speaking, those guys are bad but I think it's the whole package that makes it worth. It's fun(dark but fun),pretty heavy and once again...the cover is just so hilarious. Witchfinder general certainly didn't invent the powder but probably showed the way to bands like TROUBLE, St VITUS or even the great CATHEDRAL. Anyway W.G. was doing Black Sabbath when Black sabbath wasn't doing it anymore.

Regardless of the shabby workmanship, still quite good.:
The first release from Witchfinder General introduces the listener to some unique musical and vocal stylings that some will compare favorably to Black Sabbath. I don't believe that a realistic comparison can honestly be made between the two bands due to the fact that WG displays a Sabbath-like flavour yet remains quite a bit out of their depth when matched against the Osbourne-Iommi-Butler-Ward efforts. Regardless, it is still a lot of fun to listen to as a result of Zeeb Parkes' unusual vocal style layered over some traditional early 70's metal-ish bass lines, beats, and riffs. "R.I.P" has a "Children of the Grave" bent note guitar tweak that is very noticeable, yet the song is quite different otherwise. Standout songs are "Invisible Hate", "Free Country", and... well... actually they all have their good points. In a nutshell, it was a welcome and unique addition to my 80's metal collection when I first picked up the vinyl edition, and the only downside I can make you aware of is the poor recording/mixing quality and an average level of technical accuracy musically. If you get it, based on my descriptions and taking into consideration my warnings, I don't think you will feel cheated in the slightest. Buy it if you are of a mind and you won't regret it.

If you want to hear the best Witchfinder General disc...:
This is it. Friends Of Hell was cool, but this is my favourite of the 2. This one is a little less Black Sabbath sounding Friends Of Hell then the second, but STILL has that vibe. I think the title track Witchfinder General is their standout, and the one most people have heard. Unlike the second disc (Friends Of Hell) I like all the tracks on this one. The guitar tone was even better on this one for some reason. The subject matter is pretty much what most of the bands were singing about at the time, drugs, ect... but not bad. They always had heavier looking album covers then the music anyway. This one only features one nakad chick, front and back. Still not PC, but again, not as shocking as when it first came out in the early 80s. I've been listening to these guys since I was an early teen back in the day when it was still new in fresh. Now that I'm in my 30s, I find I STILL listen to them constantly. If you like Sabbath, or a score of other doom/stoner bands, I think you'll really dig this. The only annoying part I find is Zeebs queal/queech on Invisable Hate. Not sure why they didn't fix that in the studio to begin with. You'll know when you hear it. Other then that, I'm into it. One of a long list of my favorite albums of all time.

• Invisible Hate
• Free Country
• Death Penalty
• No Stayer
• Witchfinder General
• Burning a Sinner
• R.I.P.