WITCHCRAFT DESTROYS MINDS AND REAPS SOULS

I guess that most people find satanism to be more in tune with pure metal, black or whatever, but I have always been of the opinion that the most chilling tales of satanic (or otherwise) rites, the occult (in general) and the supernatural comes more to the fore when the music is rather gentle and nice than screaming and thumping around like a norwegian black metal band. Who's to say that the Devil doesn't like his music to be relaxing?

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...