Black Widow

When this was first released, in 1970, it was incendiary stuff: a band that openly sang about black magic and whose live performances were virtual covens. After a cock-up regarding their dancer stripping off at the Lyceum theatre (caught on film by the News of The World!) they found themselves banned from all of Eric Morley’s theatres across the UK and even banned from appearing in the US.
In the meantime they released this album along with its single ‘Come To The Sabbat’.

So, question 1 – does it stand up today? If you’ve grown up with the Black Metal scene this might sound tame but the playing and the themes are as strong as they ever were and I would venture that the playing and the writing is actually out of the top drawer.
Kip Trevor’s vocals are suitably tortured and anguished and the relentless drumming of Clive Box (Bok) adds a martial air to the sound while Zoot Taylor adds richness with some stirring Hammond organ and main songwriter Jim Gannon’s guitar lines, a million miles away from the shredders and riff merchants, add structure. Clive Jones, original member of the band, add sax, flute and clarinet to take the music to a more trippy place.

It’s heady stuff: they cover such topics as gifts to the dark lords and calling the masses in to the coven to raise Satan but they also, bizarrely add a cheesy jazz section on ‘Seduction’ that brilliantly reverses the form. The 11 minute title track is played at relentless pace, leaving you exhausted trying to keep up.

The package includes a nearly 1 hour DVD of the band from Germany’s The Beat Club as well as a remastered version of the album and a previously unreleased version of the album with inter-track commentary from Clive Jones Geoff Griffiths that makes complete sense and actually adds to the album.

It makes for a thoroughly welcome reissue for a lost masterpiece.