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What’s up Sorry Staters?
We’re already about a week into April. Funny enough, (at the time I’m writing this) last night I went to go to see Adolescents, Circle Jerks and Descendents. Originally, I had no intention of going. The show was at this bigger club in Raleigh called The Ritz and tickets were pretty expensive. But last-minute, Zander from Circle Jerks visited the store and offered to put a few of us Sorry State employees on the guest list. I’m not sure what I think about his new solo record exactly, but it was a very nice gesture on his part. Dom and Usman ended up not going, so I just rolled solo to the gig. Kinda weird. But sure enough, there was a ticket waiting for me at the box office. The show was sold out and PACKED, which stressed me out, but I did run into a few friendly faces. It bummed me out that the only original member in Adolescents was Tony, but I enjoyed watching all the bands. Honestly, the Descendents came out sounding the most tight and professional and got the best crowd reaction. Not surprising, I suppose. Once they played “Myage,” I dipped out early. Beyond that, as far as punk gigs in the greater Raleigh area, things have been pretty dead for a while. Luckily, there’s a few sick gigs coming up this month that I’m excited about. The first one is on April 7th at our local watering hole Kings, and the main attractions are punk-metal ragers Absolut from Canada. Then I’m really looking forward to this benefit gig at Rumah on April 20th—Shaved Ape, along with Meat House and new group Starving Bomb will be rockin’ together for a Free Palestine relief effort. There are a lot of other local events going on that same day, but hopefully the punks and freaxxx will show out for a rager and a good cause. Then just 2 days later, members of the Sorry State stable of artists Deletär from France are gonna rip in Raleigh! Hell yeah.
Speaking of 4/20 (hehe), the other big event we always know is on the horizon once April comes around is Record Store Day. Is it too early to talk about RSD releases already? I don’t care; this is what’s been on my mind this past week. Boxes, boxes and more boxes of fresh, exclusive titles have already been piling up on Sorry State’s doorstep. Honestly, I always have mixed feelings about RSD. Usually, once the new list of RSD-branded titles is made available to the public, I kinda roll my eyes. As I’m scrolling through, rarely do I see any records that grab my attention. You almost get kinda bored with the predictability of what records they decide to do: there’s probably gonna be a The Cure-related reissue (most likely a picture disc), some sort of Nuggets-related box set, something with the Grateful Dead, some sort of bloated triple-LP live bootleg by a crowd-pleasing classic rock band, a reissue of a famous movie soundtrack for $30-40 that you can probably find an old copy of at Sorry State in our bargain bin… I dunno, sorry if I’m sipping on the Hate-orade. Long gone are the days of packaging The Fix’s Vengeance and Jan’s Room as a double 7”. That’s all I’m saying.
While the punk titles might be in short supply, every now and then some cool heavy metal reissues come out for Record Store Day. One record in the batch this year is a fresh pressing of Death Penalty, the debut album by Witchfinder General. Knowing me, it might come as a surprise to some Sorry State readers that I even enjoy some Witchfinder General. I’ve been known to indulge in some dirtbag headbanger tendencies from time to time. But the other day, news of the RSD reissue inspired me to go dig out my og copy of Death Penalty. I gotta say, I threw that slab on the platter with fresh ears, and Witchfinder got me rockin’ out in no time.
How does one describe Witchfinder General? I guess the band is an early example of what the kids are now calling “trad metal” or traditional heavy metal. Death Penalty was released in 1982, which was the era when the tail-end of NWOBHM was still lingering, but also when speed metal & thrash were just beginning to emerge as the dominant force in the heavy metal landscape. But Witchfinder General really kind of set themselves apart by sounding much more reminiscent of 70s Sabbath. Thick, girthy guitars that to me sound heavily down-tuned—which is interesting, because besides Tony Iommi tuning down to account for his chopped off finger tips, I think down-tuning the whole guitar for that “doomy” sound was pretty uncommon at that time. The lead singer “Zeeb” (no one knows his real name lol) approaches the mic with what I affectionately refer to as billy goat vocals. Come on, y’all know what I mean, right? It’s that more high-pitched singing with a warbly vibrato. As a result, many annoying imitators would follow. But with Zeeb, I dig it.
This record was released on the aptly titled indie imprint Heavy Metal Records. Early on, around 1980, the label began to predominantly put out 7” singles in true DIY fashion. There’s an unspoken, yet detectable mission statement of sorts that this label was dedicated to only releasing real deal, traditional, “true” heavy metal. And ya know what screams authentic heavy metal more than anything else? A bunch of dudes in renaissance fair garb slaying a sinful, evil wench wearing lingerie while in a graveyard. Titties, cloaks, and swords… Horns UP, amirite? And how does the band up the ante on the 2nd album? Instead of just one, there’s 5 nekkid ladies being attacked. It’s all pretty silly.
I guess the medieval aesthetic lumps in Witchfinder as an early example of the whole “doom metal” thing. I mentioned Black Sabbath earlier. Especially the instrumental intro to the song “No Stayer” not only sounds similar, but I think the guitar player is literally imitating particular licks that Tony Iommi would play. Sounds like “Electric Funeral,” I’m pretty sure. Kinda crazy. In general though, I find a lot of pure doom metal pretty boring for my tastes. Like when you get into Candlemass territory, everything becomes so like ceremoniously corny cabaret. Witchfinder stands apart in my mind because they have songs with a driving, propulsive tempo. More edgy. And not to mention, an element of, dare I say… FUN? The dudes in Witchfinder General don’t wanna sit around throwing eye of newt into a cauldron or whatever. They wanna rock. Like, you could still cruise in your convertible with the top down wearing aviator sunglasses jamming most tracks on this record and feel badass as hell. For me, the total banger hit off of this record is “Free Country.” Every time it gets to the chorus and is like “Look out for me-eeh-eeh, let’s trip on LSD!” I’m like, ooooh fuk yah. He’s talkin’ about all kinds of shit in this song. Mushroom tea? Yes please. My man says, “amphetamine is real good speed.” True, true. No doubt, no doubt lol. But he’s gotta draw the line somewhere when he goes, “Heroin is a killer, you gotta say no.” Stick with that hippie shit. That’s what the druids would do.
I know this record has been reissued before. Back On Black did their treatment on Death Penalty, but the latest pressing that was only available as a picture disc? Big no no for me. So really, this album has been out of print for over 10 years! Realizing this makes the RSD reissue feel more exciting in my mind. And it’s also cool that the new version is back home being released on Heavy Metal Records once again. I didn’t crack the RSD reissue open obviously, but I wonder if the record is on color vinyl or not. My og copy is on clear vinyl. PS, my copy is missing the insert. This is a long shot, but if anyone reading this has an extra insert they can spare then hit me up!
That’s all I’ve got this round. Look out for me. I’m about to slip into my monk’s robe and brew some mushroom tea. Or just drink beer. We’ll see. As always, thanks for reading!
‘Til next week,
-Jeff