Witchfinder General

A Stourbridge band of the new wave of British heavy metal whose slow, grinding Death Penalty of 1982 was later recognized as an early blueprint for doom metal.

Origin: Stourbridge, England
Years active: 1979-1984, 2006-2008
Genres: heavy metal, doom metal
Labels: Heavy Metal Records

Stourbridge

Witchfinder General was formed in Stourbridge in 1979 by the singer Zeeb Parkes and the guitarist Phil Cope, and took its name from the 1968 film Witchfinder General, directed by Michael Reeves, about the witch-hunter Matthew Hopkins. Toilet ov Hell places the formation in the fall of 1979 and the first show at the Crown Tavern in Dudley on June 16, 1980. The early line-up had Johnny Fisher on bass and Steve Kinsell on drums.

The first record was the 7-inch "Burning a Sinner", with "Satan's Children" on the other side, recorded in a single afternoon in early 1981. The Soviet Invasion EP was recorded in the winter of 1981 and released in the summer of 1982 on Heavy Metal Records; Wikipedia says its "live" track was in fact a studio recording with crowd noise added at the request of label head Paul Birch, on a page flagged as needing citations.

Death Penalty and Friends of Hell

Death Penalty was recorded on April 10 and 11, 1982 at Metro Sound Studios, produced by Peter Hinton, as a three-piece in about two days, with Cope also playing bass under the credit Woolfy Trope and Graham Ditchfield on drums. It came out in September 1982 (MusicBrainz says October). The cover shows the model Joanne Latham, topless, among men in period costume, photographed at St. Mary the Blessed Virgin Church in Enville, Staffordshire, without the local reverend's permission, and tabloids condemned it. AllMusic's Eduardo Rivadavia gave it four stars and Martin Popoff ten out of ten.

Friends of Hell was recorded in March 1983 at Horizon Studios in Coventry, produced by Robin George, and released on November 25, 1983. It was written after a year without gigs and recorded over two weeks. After a short tour, a live album, Live '83, was recorded and released in 2006. A third album begun in early 1984 was never finished, because of label changes and a lack of funding, and the band split in 1984. Wikipedia's explanation, that the cover controversy ended the band, is flagged as needing a citation.

Rediscovery

The band reformed in November 2006 without Parkes, with Gary Martin singing, and released Resurrected in 2008; Kevin McCready, the bassist from 1981 to 1982, died in 2008. The band's site says it is not touring and has no plans to reunite or perform live. NWN! Productions issued Buried Amongst the Ruins on vinyl in 2008, with the Soviet Invasion tracks, four live tracks from 1981 and a replica of the 1981 single.

AllMusic says the band's influence on the emergence of doom metal could not be ignored, though it was recognized mostly after they disbanded. Cathedral recorded "Hopkins (The Witchfinder General)" for The Carnival Bizarre (1995), and Reverend Bizarre's Sami Hynninen took the name Albert Witchfinder in homage, telling The Quietus's Sean McGeady in 2019 that Friends of Hell had something genuinely sinister to it.

Members

Zeeb Parkes vocals (1979-1984)
Phil Cope guitar, bass (1979-1984, 2006-2008)
Rod Hawkes bass (1982-1984, 2006-2008)
Graham Ditchfield drums (1982-1983)
Dermot Redmond drums (1983-1984, 2006-2008)

Records

Soviet Invasion! 1982 · ep · Heavy Metal Records
A three-track 12-inch recorded in the winter of 1981.
Death Penalty 1982 · Heavy Metal Records
The debut album, recorded in about two days and later recognized as a forerunner of doom metal.

Songs

Soviet Invasion Soviet Invasion! · 1982
The title track of the 1982 EP, about Cold War fear of the atomic bomb.
Witchfinder General Death Penalty · 1982
The title anthem, which The Quietus calls a British metal benchmark.

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