Customer Reviews

Live '83

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

 

 

I f87king LOVE!!!! Witchfinder General. I love them so much I'm going to write that again: I f87king LOVE!!!! Witchfinder General. I put their first CD, Death Penalty, on the same tier as any early Black Sabbath. I have fried many brain cells while listening to both. I never cease to be amazed at mediocre bands that are chronically compared to Black Sabbath. Witchfinder General is THE ONLY BAND that can and deserves to be compared to Sabbath. Their music has obvious blues roots, is PHAT doom/gloom, but most importantly IT SWINGS, just like their Masters. May Diabolous be praised. Most doom/gloom bands can only play slow/plodding/discordant music, but nothing they play can swing. Enter Witchfinder General, who have honestly captured the essence of what early Black Sabbath was and, as such, were the perfect methadone for the cold turkey that came with Ozzy leaving Sabbath. That being said, regarding this CD: Though the musical performance is from a small club and is GREAT!!!!, the recording leaves much to be desired. The music and performance are both 5 star worthy but I gave this CD only 3 stars. Here's my math (keep in mind I flunked aglebar, ablagra.......math): 5 stars for the music with an honest 1 1/2 stars for the sound quality makes me comfortable with giving this 3 stars. The CD literally sounds like recordings I made of my own band with a portable 4 track audiocassette recorder. Though the recording is from a club gig, there is no crowd noise picked up by the mikes. I don't doubt this is a gig recording but it sounds like a recorded rehearsal because of the absence of crowd noise. Because of the lack of treble, the recording sounds like you are listening to the gig while wearing a metal bucket over your head (no pun intended.) LONG LIVE METAL!!!! (buckets). For the Witchfinder General-philes only, who will relish this recording with much gladness.

Witchfinder General was and is a great band. It doesn't get any better than Sabbath-inspired doom metal from the NWOBHM movement. All their studio releases are killer and well produced by NWOBHM standards. This "Live '83" recording is a uncovered gem. The production is rough, but it is great to have even a rough version of the legendary Witchfinder General playing a live show during their classic years. It's absolutely essential. You may wonder why then a two-star review. Well it is mostly because there are two versions of this disc that exist. This is the earlier version with the skull on the front. There is a later version that has a picture of a witchfinder general on the cover. The difference is that this version, the one with the skull, was taken from a faulty master that was played at the wrong speed. The performance is not accurate and is very slow. The newer version corrected the problem. I've read about this on numerous websites and owned both versions, so I can attest to the accuracy of this. It's a great album, but make sure that you purchase the one with the witchfinder on the cover.