Search - Witchfinder General :: Death Penalty

The Best Black Sabbath album that Black Sabbath never made.

James Simpson | USA | 11/08/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Many classic albums came out of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal,and this is one of them.

A classic debut for one of the era's classic cult bands,Witchfinder General forge a sound of doom on this album,unlike anything heard...since Black Sabbath's Volume 4.

In many ways this makes up for the loss of the old Sabbath sound,lost since 1974,and certainly changed with the vocals of Ronnie James Dio.

Witchfinder General's lead vocalist does a good job at imitating Ozzy,and his voice and lyrics capture a real urgency and poignancy that makes the music stand out.

Many classics abound,but the most enduring are the epic title track,a dark journey into loneliness and madness and of past wrongs never to be righted.

The band's grand anthem,"Witchfinder General" is one of the golden classics of the NWOBHM,evoking images of terror and blood,very much like the Vincent Price film that the band derives there name from.

Truly classic doom metal,reccomended for fans of Black Sabbath,British Metal and Doom Metal.

Excellent and very underrated masterpiece.

Note:HILARIOUS cover art,practically worth the price by itself!"

Sabbath's star pupils

Bloodbath_and_Beyond | usa | 05/15/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"NWOBHM's star Sabbath diciples Witchfinder General managed to recycle enough Iommi riffs to make a cool album with Death Penalty. Although it remains most popular for it's (at the time) offensive cover art, the music holds up in a way. Most current minded metal heads will usually ignore an album like this, but for true historians of the genre, this is a must have. Songs like Invisible Hate, the 'Paranoid' inspired Free Country, and the title track revel in some great riffs. Singer Zeeb Parkes is rather limited (which sometimes recalls Witchfynde's lead singer) but it works here. Burning A Sinner and RIP all cover early 80's Satanic styled raw rock for those who want to dig deeper than the Sab classics. The star cut of course that goes without mention is the bands name sake song. Making an appearence on the NWOBHM 79 anthology compiled by Lars Ulrich and Geoff Barton, it's a downright vicious song. Though this band obviously inspired a lot of the doom metal upbringing that would happen in the mid/late 80's they might have been bettered by bands that continued in Sabbath's slow and consistantly dark brooding style of hard rock known so well to many as 'doom'. i.e. Pentagram, Trouble, Candlemass, Cathedrel, Monster Magnet etc. However this is once again, a great nugget for pre thrash metal."

The ultimate tribute

Metaljim | Kansas USA | 05/22/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Ever wonder what would a band sound like if you gave them instruments and locked them in a room with the first four Black Sabbath albums and a bunch of dope? If so, Witchfinder General provides the answer on their 1982 debut album, Death Penalty. In a little over 30 minutes, the band manages to spit out what often sounds like a "lost" Sabbath album, almost the natural successor to Sabbath's 1972 release, Vol.4. One can imagine Tony Iommi and company blasting through these songs, which pay homage to the Sabbath sound in song structure, lyrical content and overall sonic attack. The youthful exuberance and sheer joy with which they play makes this almost an essential purchase to not only Sabbath fans, but fans of the NWOBHM movement in general. Not to be taken seriously on any level, this is pure, unadulterated fun to listen to."