Here, Witchfinder General was continuing further down the path already blazed by Black Sabbath. It's a tight call, but between "Death Penalty" and "Friends of Hell," I'd have to give the latter the edge. Now, there's no denying that the band is awfully damn derivative. It's regurgitated Sabbath sounds. But it's not a shitty pastiche, by any means. Rather, the occultish rebellion, the vintage thick psyche grooves, all the usual Sabbath staples are here. The difference is that at this point, the genre was moving toward self-consciousness. It wasn't even a genre, fer heaven's sake, when Sabbath started doing their thing. Nowadays, there are gobs of stoner metal. And a lot of it doesn't sound anything like Sabbath. The beauty of Witchfinder General is that they do bear a strong resemblance to the Sabbath style of psychedelic hard rock/metal, but it's not outright mockery. Sure, Witchfinder General is a bit sillier and more heavy metal (I'm talking attitude here) about the imagery. Sort of the difference between Slayer and W.A.S.P., to draw style parallels in another genre. Sabbath was more brooding and serious about their occultic edge where Witchfinder General is kind of doing the "occult thing." Not that this really matters. The music does. And the General does the music well. Downside: It sounds a lot like Sabbath. Upside: It sounds a lot like Sabbath. Visit www.mvdb2b.com.
http://www.mvdb2b.com
Comments
There are no comments yet
AUTHOR: Upchuck Undergrind
Upchuck Undergrind listens to a little bit of a lot of things - just note the eclecticism of his reviews. He also reads voraciously and loves movies. He is a very open-minded Episcopalian (and student of Buddhism and Hinduism) who thinks Slayer is one of the greatest metal bands. Ever. In addition to his work with Corazine - for which he has written since its inception (he is a Fishcomcollective veteran) - he also writes for DJFix.com.