Angel Witch
Live At The LA 2000
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Angel Witch. Live. Need I say more?
I don't HAVE to, but I will, because this album is fucking great and fully worthy of gushing praise. It's almost criminal that things have never managed to come together for Kevin Heybourne. The songs he's written in Angel Witch epitomize the entire NWOBHM movement and inspired, well, almost everyone playing metal today - yet all he has to show for it is underground cult status, one endlessly-reissued classic debut album, and twenty years of the revolving door syndrome. I thought the last gasp of AW was the live album Metal Blade put out over a decade ago - but boy am I glad I was wrong. He's put together another lineup in the past year and even appeared in a few metal festivals, and now this - a live album recorded at London's Astoria. This two-disc set captures the show fairly well. Disc 1 is the full show, almost an hour of Angel Witch classics - basically the entire first album (minus Sweet Danger and Free Man), Baphomet, Extermination Day, and Twist of the Knife, and a little guitar solo. The performances are fantastic; Heybourne has recruited some top-notch sidemen. The drumming and guitar work are particularly noteworthy, and the backing vocals fill out the choruses and such nicely. Kevin himself is no slouch in the vocal or guitar department, of course, and there isn't a single misstep on this album. The energy level is nice and high, and though some of the stuff is a bit faster than the originals there is NO slop at all. The sound suffers a bit - this is basically a soundboard dump and they must have just used the room mix - the drums and vocals are far too forward in the mix relative to the bass and guitars, though this does get better towards the end of the disc. Still, it's clean enough that you don't really have to work to listen to it.
Disc 2 of this set is a video disc for your DVD or PC MPEG player containing three videos (White Witch, Angel Witch, and Baphomet) from this performance. Stills of these videos were used for the packaging as well. All in all it's a great deal on a great album and definitely worthwhile.
© 2001 lord vic
I don't HAVE to, but I will, because this album is fucking great and fully worthy of gushing praise. It's almost criminal that things have never managed to come together for Kevin Heybourne. The songs he's written in Angel Witch epitomize the entire NWOBHM movement and inspired, well, almost everyone playing metal today - yet all he has to show for it is underground cult status, one endlessly-reissued classic debut album, and twenty years of the revolving door syndrome. I thought the last gasp of AW was the live album Metal Blade put out over a decade ago - but boy am I glad I was wrong. He's put together another lineup in the past year and even appeared in a few metal festivals, and now this - a live album recorded at London's Astoria. This two-disc set captures the show fairly well. Disc 1 is the full show, almost an hour of Angel Witch classics - basically the entire first album (minus Sweet Danger and Free Man), Baphomet, Extermination Day, and Twist of the Knife, and a little guitar solo. The performances are fantastic; Heybourne has recruited some top-notch sidemen. The drumming and guitar work are particularly noteworthy, and the backing vocals fill out the choruses and such nicely. Kevin himself is no slouch in the vocal or guitar department, of course, and there isn't a single misstep on this album. The energy level is nice and high, and though some of the stuff is a bit faster than the originals there is NO slop at all. The sound suffers a bit - this is basically a soundboard dump and they must have just used the room mix - the drums and vocals are far too forward in the mix relative to the bass and guitars, though this does get better towards the end of the disc. Still, it's clean enough that you don't really have to work to listen to it.
Disc 2 of this set is a video disc for your DVD or PC MPEG player containing three videos (White Witch, Angel Witch, and Baphomet) from this performance. Stills of these videos were used for the packaging as well. All in all it's a great deal on a great album and definitely worthwhile.
© 2001 lord vic