Customer Reviews

Angel Witch

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

This trio was one of the best groups to come out of the NWOBHM scene. It was too bad that only a select few knew about them. Kevin Heybourne fronted this group with catchy demonic riffs that sent chills down your spine with vocals that were crisp and clear.This album is a must for anyone that was a fan of a great musical "scene" that only some of us understood and appreciated. Angel Witch came out with a second album entitled "Screaming and Bleedin" but it did not have the same pioneering projects as this. It is hard to believe that this "album" is almost twenty years old and still "gets metal".

as other reviewers have noted,angel witch contributed to the launching of the NWOBHM in the early 80's.they quickly faded into obscurity,which is a shame as they where awesome!!lots of riffs,great catchy choruses,"satanic" references - what more could you want??some of it does sound a bit dated to my ears,but in a way ADDS to the fun,remembering this was released in 1980!!so,taking into account the extra tracks,great liner notes and remastered songs,you should consider this ESSENTIAL

After finally hearing Angel Witch's debut, its no wonder that Iron Maiden fans speak of this album highly! This is a classic NWOBHM disc that has all the tradmark NWOBHM sounds. My only regret was not trying the band soon as I was turned off by their rather silly band name. The music is great and the lyrics are catchy. Don't let their name and "satanic" image fool you, this is a great band and its a shame they weren't able to achieve the success as Iron Maiden. Some say this disc is even better than Maiden's debut. I can't decide but there's no denying the greatness of this disc. Make sure to pick up a remastered copy with bonus tracks as it makes the listening experience that much better.

I originally bought this cd out of curiousity. I really enjoy the first 2 Iron Maiden albums and wanted to check out some more NWOBHM. This has a very similar sound to the early Maiden stuff, including a sort of gallop. Anyway, I would rate this in quality, as far as how good the material is, right behind Killers and the first self-titled Maiden album. Overall, I was pretty impressed. Also, I think Tenacious D may have borrowed their pics of Satan from the inside of this cd.

LEd by guitarrist / singer Kevin Heybourne, this first ( and only one worthwhile) Angel Witch album is an amazing shjowmanship of heavy metal skill. The power trio is inspired, the songs are fast and well written, the vocals are good. In this album we have extra-tracks, most of them very good. In short, it's another case of "WHY THIS BAND DID NOT ACHIEVE SUCCESS AND THAT OTHER BAND ACHIEVED IT"?

This is essential for anyone who digs Iron Maiden or Black Sabbath or classic metla in general. Buy it!

Excellent debut by Angel Witch, elite British metal. Most of the vocals are high pitch, comparing favorably to Judas Priest, Iron Maiden or Helloween. It just misses being a classic. Key tracks are Angel Witch, White Witch, Sorceress, Angel of Death, & Sweet Danger. I would recommend it.

The 1980 self-titled debut album by Angel Witch is without a doubt one of the most important albums of the legendary New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) movement. It's also just an outstanding heavy metal album, especially when you consider the era from which it emerged. Aside from Black Sabbath, Rainbow and the still-developing Judas Priest, there really wasn't a defined heavy metal sound. Then seemingly from out of nowhere, and amidst a sea of disco and punk, come bands like Iron Maiden, Saxon and of course Angel Witch that added a punk-like sense of aggression and malice to the Deep Purple/Led Zeppelin/Uriah Heep hard rock sound. The NWOBHM scene in 1980 was heavy metal's baptism by fire, and it totally changed the course of music for decades to come.

Even if you remove the historical context, Angel Witch is still a terrific metal album. It's at once very similar and very different from the Iron Maiden debut. The hard charging yet still melodic sound is similar to Maiden, but Angel Witch was far more aggressive and speed-oriented. The band's overall heaviness and occult-inspired lyrics owe a lot to those early Sabbath albums (see "Sorcerers" and "Angel of Death"), but they definitely took a page from the punk scene as well (as evidenced by the raw energy of "Confused" and the title track). The whole album is just a raw, vital combination of speed, melody, heaviness, aggression, power and evil - basically everything a good metal album should have.

Angel Witch is a virtual blueprint of things to come. You can totally see how the speedy riffs would inspire the bands that went on to introduce thrash metal (Metallica's love of this band is well documented), and how their melodies and darker subject matter would spawn a wave of American power metal bands. My guess is that Angel Witch's doomy Sabbath-style heaviness and pseudo-satanic lyrics played a larger role in the creation of the doom and black metal sounds than most would give them credit for.

If you make any claim at all to being a NWOBHM fan, there's no way around this one; you absolutely must have a copy of Angel Witch in your British metal collection. I also highly recommend it to any serious metal fan that is interested in how the heavy metal sound has evolved and developed over time (or if you just want to hear a kick-arse heavy metal album).

NOTE: Castle/Sanctuary reissued Angel Witch in 1999. This reissue featured digitally remastered sound and six bonus tracks. The bonus tracks consisted of the complete Loser single ("Loser", "Suffer" and "Dr. Phibes"), the b-sides to the Sweet Danger single ("Flight Nineteen" and "Hades Paradise") and the song "Baphomet" from the first Metal for Muthas compilation.