Never thought I'd see Angel Witch on the channel! They were one of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal bands that included Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, and Motorhead. This is the point where punky rhythms/aggression started combining with the more metallic riffing and melodic styles of classic heavy metal. This came out in '80, and if you listen to Iron Maiden's debut album from the same year you can hear a very similar style. This was just before thrash would even exist, and you can definitely hear how Metallica, Slayer, et al. would take this basic template and just speed things up even further. As far as Angel Witch goes, they were OK but definitely mid-tier as far as the genre goes and have basically been completely overshadowed by bands like Iron Maiden and even Saxon (who are themselves almost forgotten except all but major classic metal fans).
Hell yeah this is a fun one! Simple, shredding guitar riff to start and perhaps cliched lyrics but its so enjoyable. The song and especially the chorus feel so aged and 'of its time' that it comes back around to just being awesome! Also the little gang vocal section at the latter half of the song is kinda thrashy for its time. This is just great, cheesy fun and I am here for it :p Edit: Also the track 'Sorcerer' off the same album is a great pick with more to offer. Has a great moody first half and then builds up to a no-holds-barred instrumental section with organ soloes and twin-lead guitar melodies that were a big thing in the early 80s. These are the top 2 tracks from this album for me with the title track being a fun novelty track, but Sorcerer being kind of a overlooked classic for me. Edit2: Their later stuff has more doomy vibes for sure. I would also speculate that hiatus between the first and second album would be a significant one. 1980 was a big year for heavy metal with the birth of New Wave of British Heavy Metal and kinda the rebirth of the genre as a whole. Then by 1985 thrash metal was emerging and becoming the new hotness. I'd assume that if you hadn't made a name for yourself by that time, a traditional heavy metal band would have a hard time piercing through as metal listeners were aiming for more aggressive stuff with thrash metal. But then again this is just my speculation.
The reason why this and other bands like Angel Witch becomes a bit buried in the sands of time has to do with the subset of heavy metal they belong to, NWOBHM ( Short for New Wave Of British Heavy Metal). Which means they are hot on the heels of bands like Black Sabbath and Judas Priest, and right under the shadow of the greatest proponents of NWOBHM, Saxon, Def Leppard and... Iron Maiden. Given how little room heavy metal back then had for "second best" it sadly relegated a lot of these "good but not great" bands to obscurity, even if they were massively influencial on the likes of Slayer and Metallica (There are tracks here that really bring to mind a slower Slayer from Hell Awaits, which just shows how influential Angel Witch were), on one hand, and bands like Candlemass, which is where the Doom connection might be coming from. Traditional Doom is itself kind of a different beast from 90% of the doom you've been listening on the channel, being more akin to "traditional" heavy metal, just generally slower and either melancholy, epic, or frequently both. Candlemass, Solitude Aeternus, Solstice, are great representatives of classic traditional Doom, with bands like Manilla Road or Cirith Ungol being "proto" Doom. Or recently, Smoulder. It's possibly one of the most "conservative" genres of music in terms of wearing the influences on their sleeves, so you will easily trace those influences back to this.
Oh hell yeah..This sounds like its from the 80's...Those harmonies are huge and that gang vocal part is so Velveeta its great..That guitarist is just going to town and the drummer is just in the pocket holding things down ✌️🤘🧐
Just seen the band release an album in 2019 which sounds excellent - Damn I put a comment with a link to Sum41's Pain to Pleasure, so I think the comment got auto-deleted. If you haven't heard it, there's 80 seconds of wonderful parody. Defo a great departure from the norm, and made me think of Judas Priest, Thin Lizzy, but heard Queen influences briefly. When you were 'curious', I'd love if you visited and played 20 seconds for a taster, or clicked about.
"This is the first thing most people would have heard from this group." True, but the band had released an EP, had recorded a couple of demos, and had appeared on the Metal for Muthas compilation prior to this. The NWOBHM was an underground movement, so people "in the know" would have been familiar with Angel Witch already when they released their debut.
""Rushed", Trying to end the song"... Ha ha ha... this is effectively the invention of speed metal. If you're talking about bass, listen to Sabbath, and there is only one guitarist on this song.
I remember this one from the game Brütal Legend. Awesome song that still randomly pops up in my head from time to time.
Never thought I'd see Angel Witch on the channel! They were one of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal bands that included Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, and Motorhead. This is the point where punky rhythms/aggression started combining with the more metallic riffing and melodic styles of classic heavy metal. This came out in '80, and if you listen to Iron Maiden's debut album from the same year you can hear a very similar style. This was just before thrash would even exist, and you can definitely hear how Metallica, Slayer, et al. would take this basic template and just speed things up even further. As far as Angel Witch goes, they were OK but definitely mid-tier as far as the genre goes and have basically been completely overshadowed by bands like Iron Maiden and even Saxon (who are themselves almost forgotten except all but major classic metal fans).
Hell yeah this is a fun one! Simple, shredding guitar riff to start and perhaps cliched lyrics but its so enjoyable. The song and especially the chorus feel so aged and 'of its time' that it comes back around to just being awesome! Also the little gang vocal section at the latter half of the song is kinda thrashy for its time. This is just great, cheesy fun and I am here for it :p
Edit: Also the track 'Sorcerer' off the same album is a great pick with more to offer. Has a great moody first half and then builds up to a no-holds-barred instrumental section with organ soloes and twin-lead guitar melodies that were a big thing in the early 80s. These are the top 2 tracks from this album for me with the title track being a fun novelty track, but Sorcerer being kind of a overlooked classic for me.
Edit2: Their later stuff has more doomy vibes for sure. I would also speculate that hiatus between the first and second album would be a significant one. 1980 was a big year for heavy metal with the birth of New Wave of British Heavy Metal and kinda the rebirth of the genre as a whole. Then by 1985 thrash metal was emerging and becoming the new hotness. I'd assume that if you hadn't made a name for yourself by that time, a traditional heavy metal band would have a hard time piercing through as metal listeners were aiming for more aggressive stuff with thrash metal. But then again this is just my speculation.
The reason why this and other bands like Angel Witch becomes a bit buried in the sands of time has to do with the subset of heavy metal they belong to, NWOBHM ( Short for New Wave Of British Heavy Metal). Which means they are hot on the heels of bands like Black Sabbath and Judas Priest, and right under the shadow of the greatest proponents of NWOBHM, Saxon, Def Leppard and... Iron Maiden. Given how little room heavy metal back then had for "second best" it sadly relegated a lot of these "good but not great" bands to obscurity, even if they were massively influencial on the likes of Slayer and Metallica (There are tracks here that really bring to mind a slower Slayer from Hell Awaits, which just shows how influential Angel Witch were), on one hand, and bands like Candlemass, which is where the Doom connection might be coming from. Traditional Doom is itself kind of a different beast from 90% of the doom you've been listening on the channel, being more akin to "traditional" heavy metal, just generally slower and either melancholy, epic, or frequently both. Candlemass, Solitude Aeternus, Solstice, are great representatives of classic traditional Doom, with bands like Manilla Road or Cirith Ungol being "proto" Doom. Or recently, Smoulder. It's possibly one of the most "conservative" genres of music in terms of wearing the influences on their sleeves, so you will easily trace those influences back to this.
If you like Kevin Heybourns vocals and simple but melodic songwriting, you'd like Haunt.
Oh hell yeah..This sounds like its from the 80's...Those harmonies are huge and that gang vocal part is so Velveeta its great..That guitarist is just going to town and the drummer is just in the pocket holding things down ✌️🤘🧐
Good pick, it's funny how people always remember Angelwitch as one of those "forgotten" bands
Just seen the band release an album in 2019 which sounds excellent - Damn I put a comment with a link to Sum41's Pain to Pleasure, so I think the comment got auto-deleted. If you haven't heard it, there's 80 seconds of wonderful parody. Defo a great departure from the norm, and made me think of Judas Priest, Thin Lizzy, but heard Queen influences briefly.
When you were 'curious', I'd love if you visited and played 20 seconds for a taster, or clicked about.
"This is the first thing most people would have heard from this group." True, but the band had released an EP, had recorded a couple of demos, and had appeared on the Metal for Muthas compilation prior to this. The NWOBHM was an underground movement, so people "in the know" would have been familiar with Angel Witch already when they released their debut.
Their harmony game was en pointe. Huge harmonies for this chorus, making it awfully sticky (in yr head).
Cool song.
YOU'RE AN ANGEL WITCH
""Rushed", Trying to end the song"... Ha ha ha... this is effectively the invention of speed metal. If you're talking about bass, listen to Sabbath, and there is only one guitarist on this song.
Critical Reactions: You are true gent, I was was kind of taking the mick, but you rose above and respect due. Hats off.
Yeah and he’s the vocalist he’s such amazing in this for singing and playing
😀