COVEN

The first obvious different on BLOOD ON THE SNOW comes in the form of a slicker production job courtesty of Shel Talmy who worked with The Who. While the musicians provide the same hard and folk rock instrumentation, the tracks offer a more symphonic backing with all those tricks you can accomplish with a more advanced mixing job. COVEN proved a potential marketability with their cover of the song "One Tin Soldier" which was featured on the film soundtrack for "Billy Jack" and cracked the US top 40 singles hits however despite the attempts to follow in these commercial footsteps however once again the band sounds a bit dated offering a more polished 60s bluesy country rock sound than something contemporary.

Once again the star of the show is the eccentric vocal style of Esther "Jinx" Dawson whose vocal range was impressive. Also guitarist Christopher Neilsen also shares lead vocals resurrecting the flashback to the 60s psychedelic rock of Quicksilver Messenger Service however this time around there's a greater emphasis on the Elton John style piano parts which gets this album tagged as piano rock by some sources. The album also featured a guest saxophonist and a few conga parts. While the album is more focused than the self-titled predecessor, this one also jumps around from pop piano rock to hard rock, blues rock and kitschy over-produced pop. Whereas the previous albums had catchy melodies that you could grasp onto, this one feels more forced however once again nothing is really bad once you adapt to the stylistic shift.

While the musical side of the equation was clearly geared towards marketability, on the lyrics side that's where the band revisited its occult past with bizarre cryptic references and a gatefold spread that featured the the band in full Halloween regalia. The song "Blue Blue Ship" displays lyrics that suggest Dawson has already passed away and is left haunting the world from another realm. Despite the attempt the occult themes, the musical deliveries are more on the jocular side with honky tonk piano rolls, countrified slide guitars, easy on the ears blues rock grooves and Dawson sounding as if she had just enough to drink at a party and having the time of her life. The band seemed to throw caution to the wind following a hit single and in the process lost the gamble in following up the momentum created by spawning a hit.

In many ways this album sounds a lot better than the previous ones. The pop songs are more consistent, there are no lame filler songs (i'm talkin' bout you "Jailhouse Rock") and the musicians seem more confident and competent this time around however on the flip side none of these tracks are as memorable either as the first two albums featured some better songwriting skills that stood out. This one is more formulaic albeit with a much slicker production job. Once again Dawson shows she can do her best Grace Slick turned Janis Joplin at the drop of the hat but this album as with all album only gives one the impression that this band was highly misdirected and had so much more potential than they ever were allowed to capture. If you ask me, COVEN is the perfect example of a talented band that was dumbed down by the record labels to exploit. This is a good album but by no means one of the seminal releases of 1974. In the battle of COVEN vs Satan, looks like COVEN lost.

Rather than simply disappearing forever, COVEN underwent a new branding of sort and completely distanced themselves from witchcraft imagery. COVEN released its eponymously titled album signifying a new beginning and this followup came out in 1971. In many ways the album symbolized the ultimate selling your soul to Satan thing which is the fate of many who seek fame and fortune which is symbolized by the faceless / soulless representations of the band members on the album cover along with a black cat that displays only one eye open (the all seeing eye). The band pretty much jettisoned all the overt occultism and opted for more subtle references with music that was more of a hangover from the 1960s than anything cutting edge art nouveau for 1971.

COVEN was a talented band in crafting instantly catchy pop songs based on blues rock motifs steeped in 60s hard psych charm. Lead singer Esther "Jinx" Dawson showcases her extraordinary vocal abilities more freely on this sophomore release as she retains her Grace Slick 2.0 style of ballsy West Coast heavy psych complete with blood curdling screams and Janis Joplin inspired bravado. While this formula of West coast bluesy acid rock and gritty diva deliveries appears at first to be the winning formula for COVEN's success, the problem is with this album is that it never really latches onto any particular formula and feels like it is grasping for straws.

The album is most famous for spawning COVEN's only top 40 hit "One Tin Soldier" which musically speaking was the best track they ever recorded. This instantly catchy song recounted a tale of two neighboring tribes that finds the war-mongering Valley People conquering the peaceful Mountain Kingdom. This track was not an original at all but a cover from the Canadian pop group The Original Caste and ironically the track was first released by that group in 1969, the year of COVEN's debut album. The COVEN version of the song was featured on the soundtrack of the film "Billy Jack" which had a plot similar to "One Tin Soldier's" lyrics.

While competent in delivering decent pop-infused heavy psych with a 60s zeitgeist and a stray top 40 hit that these musicians would never repeat, this self-titled sophomore release is fairly uneven in its style and consistency. For example, Jinx Dawson provides the lead female vocals but guitarist Christopher Nelson sings on quite a few of the tracks with Dawson taking on the role of backing vocalist and in the process sounding more like Quicksilver Messenger Service than Jefferson Airplane. The uninspiring Elvis Presley cover of "Jailhouse Rock" is the ultimate filler track on this one. Whereas the rest of the album retains a retro late 60s West Coast psychedelic rock feel, this track from the 1950s flails and as it was placed smack dab in the middle of the album derails the consistency.

In the end this COVEN album is saved by strong songwriting and a more energetic delivery of instrumentation which found more ambitious lead guitars, excellent piano rolls and a more diverse delivery of percussion and the top 40 hit "One Tin Soldier" was a brilliant song and a great choice to cover however that song sounds unlike anything else on this album is a fish out of water thus ending the album on a head-scratching note. The moral of the story is that even selling your soul to Satan is no guarantee for musical talent and financial success. COVEN would return with the Satanic imagery in 1974 with the ill-fated "Blood On The Snow" but the world moved on and COVEN would become utterly irrelevant once its one and only top 40 hit fell off the charts. This album is better than its reputation leads to believe but nothing spectacular either.

The music itself has nothing to do with heavy metal, this is a proto-prog psychedelic pop record with imaginative lyrics about satanism, witches and the occult. Female fronted by the eccentric Jinx Dawson, it is perhaps best compared to Arthur Brown's debut album. Organ dominated, performed with over-the-top enthusiasm and quite charming, creative and even catchy at times. The album is however plagued by a weak production. It sounds like a full-band live-in-a-studio recording with all its natural flaws; unwanted peaks in vocal volumes, poor mixing of the instruments and some slightly out of pitch instruments and vocal performances. The overall sounds isn't like flat or something, it's just a bit unrefined. On the plus side, this album does sound like a natural performance by an energetic group. Furthermore, when it comes to the compositions, this really is proto-progressive music; the organ-based compositions do remind me a bit of early Genesis. The quality of the songs is also fairly consistent.

The thirteen minute 'Satanic Mass' which concludes the record is precisely that; a staged live recording of a mass in which is a new girl pledges her devotion to Satan. Like a good joke, no need of hearing it twice.

In conclusion; I could not find a single reason as to why this record should not come as recommended to collectors of psychedelic or proto-progressive rock. It has a history, awesome artwork (there's a fine Akarma vinyl reprint) and some actual musicality and lyricism to back it all up. Its just that some of the vocals are a bit harsh on the ears.

Black Sabbath is rightly acknowledged for giving birth to the whole doom fueled darkness that would blossom into the greater heavy metal universe but the English band wasn't the first rock band to delve into the darker world of the occult. That honor wouldn't emerge on British soil at all but rather in Chicago, USA and initiated by the band COVEN who in 1969 debuted many themes and attributes that would become synonymous with metal despite actually being a psychedelic acid rock band that sounded more like Jefferson Airplane than Sabbath, Led Zeppelin or Deep Purple. The band boldly dropped their debut occult themed debut on an unsuspecting public in the form of WITCHCRAFT DESTROYS MINDS AND REAPS SOULS in 1969, the year before Black Sabbath debuted their own darkened themes set to music. Add to that, COVEN invented the metal salute of the sign of horns, displayed inverted crosses and reveled in the phrase "Hail Satan."

The band was the creation of lead vocalist Jinx Dawson and bassist Oz Osbourne who were in a previous band named Him, Her and Them and after hooking up with drummer Steve Ross, COVEN was born in 1967 and paid their dues by playing alongside late 60s acts like the Yardbirds, early Alice Cooper and Vanilla Fudge. The band's overt occult symbology and lyrical content naturally generated much controversy and caught the attention of Mercury Records who was eager to cash in on the growing popularity and enthusiasm towards the occult that was sweeping the world. Despite the interest in this sort of underground rock as it was called, the album was quickly removed from the market after its release but became a cult classic due to its completely unapologetic use of occult characteristics that would soon be adopted in the world of hard rock and heavy metal.

Despite the wickedly evil themes and lyrical content that deals with the expected themes of witchcraft, Satanic worship and other occult subject matter, the album is actually characterized by a rather standard psychedelic pop rock sound that most closely resembles the West Coast psychedelic rock that was made popular by Jefferson Airplane. Even Jinx Dawson's vocal style and phrasing emanates the great Grace Slick with the sultry feminine bravado and charismatic drive that caught everyone's attention. The first eight tracks on WITCHCRAFT DESTROYS MINDS AND REAPS SOULS were characterized by a heavy psych sound that was found Dawson backed by heavy distorted guitars, bass, drums and the classic 60s organ sound. Despite the actual songs' lyrical themes, it's perhaps the final track that got the album banned and that which made it stand out from any other release in recording history. Track ten titled "Satanic Mass" concluded the album with a bona fide 13 minute black mass which displayed ritualistic chanting, chimes and Satanic prayers.

Ultimately the band was unjustly associated with the murders of Charles Manson and other deviant behavior of the time and was also lumped into the entire counterculture as a scapegoat for antiestablishment behaviors. Ironically the album's first track is titled "Black Sabbath" which may or may not have inspired England's godfathers of the metal universe with their debut album that emerged the next year but it does reflect upon the unveiling of the occult world that had never found its way into popular music. Ultimately COVEN's debut is more of a curiosity than a bona fide outstanding album. The music itself is well performed but nothing out of the ordinary for the 60s and definitely not the best the era had to offer and while the ending "Satanic Mass" is an interesting aberrance from the status quo, it really isn't that interesting and utterly a waste of time after a single listen. COVEN will remain in the history books indeed for initiating the first signs of Satan in popular music but i rather doubt that anyone will remember them for the music itself.

Jinx has a light fun voice that fits in well with the rest of the bands adequate playing. Jumping from acid folk to hippy wig-out sessions to staged black masses the songwriting is fairly solid and even leaves you with some songs that will stick in your mind like the White witch of Rose Hall.

The black mass it surely a bit of fluff, but is is fun to listed to the first few times. Shame it is so long as it does not bear repeated listening.

So, in summation, Is this technical wizardry? No. Is it a lot of spooky fun? Absolutely.

It's a crying shame, because if you actually ignore the last track there's some solid psychedelic rock with progressive moments on this album. Thematically more reminiscent of Dennis Wheatley and Hammer Horror movies than anything more sinister, the tame Satanism offered here would look wimpy next to even the (still quite cartoonish) antics of Venom or Mercyful Fate in the 1980s, let alone the extremes the black metal scene would reach in the 1990s, but it does offer a precedent for acts such as Blood Ceremony, Uncle Acid and even Electric Wizard, with Blood Ceremony in particular coming close to the Coven sound in their more psychedelic moments. But at the same time, we can't pretend that the band didn't offer up an album with an unforgivably high proportion of filler in the form of the Mass. Three stars seems fair.

Coven was a pseudo wicca/satanic/evil band. They are from the 60s, their bassist was called Oz Osbourn and they have a song called Black Sabbath. Kinx Dawson was a great vocalist, and she was gorgeous. But this is their third release. Nothing new. Nothing more than a poor hard rock album. The mixing of the album is too damn bad. The piano, saxophone and strings doesn't fit. The best song is the title track, because it's the shortest torture. It's a bad addition to their own discography, I don't need this, and you don't need this too.

It comes across less forced and more natural, as if all the mumbo jumbo is genuine beliefs, when the music speaks of all the good things (if there are any) with the Devil. Nice, gentle songs. That is the scariest stuff. Black Widow is such a band, Coven is another. If it is metal I am not hearing it, hard rock maybe but certainly some kind of proggish pop and rock with just a hint of folk.

The singer is crazy and her vocals are furious. Behind the blonde beauty lies Hell and she holds the key, I'll tell you. All the songs on the album are nice tunes with good enough lyrics. "White witch of Rose Hall" being my favorite, alongside "Pact with Lucifer". The so-called "Satanic mass" is maybe a track you listen to one time, I have not managed to do even that. I guess it is on there more as a novelty than anything else. On the other hand you have to realise that there was some sort of satanic music movement on the prowl, at least groups dabbling in the occult albeit dressed up in fany hippie clothes and flowers on their heads. Self t proclaimed satanists performing mock sacrifice on stage (like Black Widow) were (maybe) just out for the publicity, like so many other artists and groups before and after, but it seemed real and by that kind of scary.

Coven's first album is quite good. I would not hail it as a masterpiece, though by no means bad. It is rather solid, musically, but comes across these days as more of a novelty act than the real deal. On the other hand this outfit seems, even today, to be more scary and unpredictable than, say, Gorgoroth or Root. These boys and girls were in it for real, as it seems, and who knows, maybe there were a few apparitions gathering at the gigs, staring from the other side...

On the other hand, I find Witchcraft Destroys Souls to be a tremendously underrated album. Yes, it's not too far off to think of them as a Satanic Jefferson Airplane. Probably because they use late '60s psychedelia as their platform and a female vocalist, but while Grace Slick seems to be such an easy comparison, I more think she reminds me of Catapilla's Anna Meek. Some of the music does have early prog leanings, but might be too psych for progheads. Highlights for me include "Black Sabbath", "Coven in Charing Cross", and "For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge". "Coven in Charing Cross" also features some chanting that got me thinking of "Seven Bowls" off Aphrodite's Child's 666. "Satanic Mass" is not a song, but a Satanic initiation ritual. I was laughing when the priest yelled at the young lady (presumably Jinx Dawson herself) in the most angry and demanding tone you can imagine, "Kiss the goat!" The actual music, to me, is actually a great collection of psychedelia with early prog trappings. If you enjoy Black Widow's Sacrifice and also the music of Jefferson Airplane, this is more up your alley, than if you were expecting something like Sabbath.

Frank Zappa's 1971 movie 200 Motels featured an animated clip called "Dental Hygiene Dilemma" in which Jeff (Jeff Simmons) wanted to quit the comedy group (The Mothers) and how he wanted to be heavy, like Grand Funk, Black Sabbath, or Coven. I really laughed at that, since it's only Sabbath one can actually call heavy. Not to mention this was more or less the same group who by that time scored a hit with "One Tin Soldier" which sounded more like AM radio fare (the band had to change after the backlash of Witchcraft).

It's been said about eerie similarities to Black Sabbath. Coven's bassist was named Oz Osborne. But he's not Ozzy Osbourne, despite similar names. Coven recorded a song called "Black Sabbath", but is hardly the same song Sabbath recorded on their debut. Plus Witchcraft Destroys Minds was never released in the UK, so we can speculate the coincidences until our face turns blue.

Also interesting to note two members of Aorta, Jim Donlinger and Jim Nyeholt appeared on the album. What puzzles me is how did Jim Donlinger (James Vincent) agreed to play and even write for this album? He was openly Christian, so that's ever more puzzling. The March 1970 issue of Esquire Magazine had an article called "Evil Lurks in California" which apparently featured a picture of Charles Manson holding a copy of this album, which Mercury didn't want a backlash and quickly deleted it. Original LPs have became a rare collector's item, I was in rather shock to find a copy at a local Eugene, Oregon record store, so I bought a copy and glad I did!

I know many people won't like this album, but I do, so I won't hesitate to give it a four star rating.

Jinx Dawson has a really good voice but she over-pronounces words like Eartha Kit and uses a super-exaggerated vibrato which can get annoying fast. The songs are theatrical but simple folk and blues based acid rock.

This is far from essential material for Prog fans, or anyone else for that matter... but I like it's quirky atmosphere and, as i said, some of the music is pretty good (especially the songs 'Black Sabbath', 'White Witch of Rose Hall' and 'Portrait') but it's mostly forgettable... and the 'Satanic Mass' track is just about the biggest waste of tape i've ever heard. I would only recommend this to 60's-and-70's B-Horror movie fanatics looking for a musical equivalent... and maybe Jefferson Airplane fans.