SACRIFICE

Evolving from the light-hearted, jazzy band Pesky Gee!, Black Widow did a rebranding on par with Adidas journey into sustainable practices on this album. In a vein similar to Black Sabbath, "Sacrifice" explores occult themes and satanic rituals through its twisted lyrics.

As early as in the opener "In ancient days", it is however obvious that the thematic tangency with the gods of metal is not applicable on the band's sound. Starting of with a spooky organ, the song evolves into a jazzy powerhouse accompanied by detonating hammond chords, smooth saxophone passages and lyrics concerning the awakening of a demon (a recurring theme). Continuing the mellow atmosphere, "Way to power" has a heavy, sax-driven verse, and the whole composition feels like a companion piece to the earlier song. An amazing start of the album.

"Come to the sabbath" is - not too surprising - the single of the LP. With it's diabolic chorus and creepy humming, the piece brilliantly showcases why Black Widows had an influence on black metal bands of the 80's. An instant classic, it grew on me as a listener, and even my girlfriend has remembered the tribal rhyme "Come, come, come to the sabbath, come to the sabbath, Satan's there".

The following two tracks, "Conjuration" and "Seduction" cool things down a bit before the climatic ending pieces of the B-side, with the jazz origins of Pesky Gee! becoming palpable. Being at the top of capacity, "Attack of the demon" has a boogie-vibe to it, with chilling lyrics ("All of my sins has left me in hell!"). Being the proggiest song on the album, the 11-minute long title track is an exquisite piece, containing a ravishing middle section of flute and organ solos.

Black Widow may not succeed at exploring the dark harmony the way Black Sabbath did with their revolutionary debut album, but it is nevertheless a potent work in its own right, rather sharing musical characteristics with Jethro Tull and Atomic Rooster. Being released in 1970, the album is a wonder of early prog rock, and is actually really consistent the whole journey through. Sadly enough, their following releases would neither have the strong musical identity nor as dark lyrical themes as this offering, making Black Widow somewhat of a one-hit-wonder. Bold, controversial and surprisingly catchy, "Sacrifice" is a hidden gem of prog rock.