Year Of Metal #058: Witchfinder General - Death Penalty
In a neat leap, we go from Black Sabbath to one of their most obvious musical descendents. While Black Sabbath felt like something brand new in a 1970 context, though, Witchfinder General feel much more entangled in British history, with their name taken from real life maniac Matthew Hopkins (or the Vince Price film based on him), and a sound that leans on psychedelia as much as stomping metal. At times, the 1982 release even feels a lot more modern. There’s a whole ton of stuff all stuffed into just over half an hour - this one’s a real winner.
Opener “Invisible Hate” is the album’s weirdest cut. This one draws from Led Zep III more than anything: a folksy, bucolic opening, before patience runs thin for the precise fingerpicking and a snarling riff takes over. When they hit the chorus, though, things change once again. The rhythms twist in on themselves, with singer Zeep Parkes putting in a wild, garbling performance. He’s a great presence on the mic, never going for menace but instead just sounding deeply, delightfully weird.
The title track feels a lot more in line with contemporaneous metal. The riff tightens up, the production’s a lot crisper, the vocal turn given a little more welly. Perhaps because it’s being produced on the relatively small time (and hilariously named) Heavy Metal Records, though, there’s very little sheen to this stuff. Everything’s cranked right up, exploding out the speakers. Even at their most polished, Witchfinder General maintain a sharp edge.
The back half of the LP is where Death Penalty really takes off, though. They reach for that most metal of moves, naming a song after the band itself. “Witchfinder General” is a barnstormer ,with the gooeyest, most doom-laden riff on the record. Everything’s tuned deep, deep down, and the intro especially reaches that properly momentous tension that bands like Sleep would perfect in years to come. As with most of the best doom stuff, there’s still somehow a lot of room for fun, in the form of Parkes’ caterwauled “I’m the witchfinder general!” on the chorus. They switch again to galloping hard rock, then a passage of grinding chords, then a final sprint to the finish. They would only manage one more studio album before a hiatus of more than 20 years - it feels like they know time isn’t on their side.
Then there’s the album’s best cut, “Burning A Sinner”. Here, everything just clicks from the off. It’s another vintage Iommi-esque riff, but this one doesn’t stomp so much as glide and roll. And the chorus is out of this world, the group assuming the role of a baying mob demanding the immolation of a suspected conjurerThe only complaint is that they don’t return to it enough times, it’s that catchy and dramatic.
I expected this to be a wholesale continuation of the style of metal Sabbath innovated, but while Ozzy and co are an undeniable touchstone, it’s clear Witchfinder General are interested in doing more than just leaning into the past. Indeed what they share the most with Sabbath is the sense that these aren’t highly practised musicians taking a leap into hard rock. Without any tough posturing or wild virtuoso playing, they manage to concoct a believable, folk-horror vibe that I find totally charming.
