Hi everyone, My names Ben, I'm 21 and I'm a massive NWOBHM fan! after searching for WG and downloading the samples off the site I just had to get the albums! A very awesome band indeed and quite a part from the rest of the NWOBHM camp.

After a weeks wait (And indeed shipping from the USA) both albums came in the post this morning and they are excellent! Despite the corny lyrics and even cornier front covers, how this band didnt make it big is anyones guess...

Its just a shame the live album isnt on official release, i dont trust ebay... I wouldnt mind a tshirt either lol.

But yeah, its nice to see that people are still talking about this band, I hope they regroup or something as many New Wavers have recently been regrouping, I'm so privilaged to have seen (or going to see) quite a few NWOBHM groups:

Diamond Head
Saxon
Blitzkreig
Iron Maiden (in december)
Judas Priest (next tour)

I REALLY wanna see Budgie but the nearest show is in Liverpool and its a bit of a trek

The Witchfinder General Live '83 is an Official Release and their lyrics are Kult not corny.Glad you picked them up anyway.

lol I wasnt insulting the band, their stuff is great, but it is definatly tongue firmly in cheek lol, and hmm if it was official i would be able to buy it off Amazon, and I cant, so yer, unless they're having distribution problems, ill either wait or pass thanks

Ben,


You're obviously a huge fan of the NWOBHM so you can remember when it began and hundreds of bands all over England were putting out self financed 7 inch singles on their own labels or contracted with minute record companies to do a small pressing of their single or lp. Hundreds more only got to the demo cassette stage then disappeared into oblivion.

The ethic of the NWOBHM gave rise to thousands of American and European bands to do their own brand of heavy,black,speed and death metal in the mid eighties,most came out on do it your self labels or self financed pressings. This is the spirit of underground heavy metal and the nwobhm.

The live 83 cd is licensed from Nickel Music and put out through Buried by Time and Dust Records and Nuclear War Now! Productions and is fully official. These are underground labels and probably choose not to do business with corporate conglomerates such as amazon. Moreover if you only buy music if it is on Amazon you will be ignoring a good 95 percent of the NWOBHM, the music you supposedly love so much.

The underground by definition doesn't associate with MTV,Amazon or any other glossy processed water down shit music outlets. Dig into the past and learn where and how underground music started. Lastly I can not see how you can read along with the lyrics of the band and use the term Corny....Friends of Hell and the majority of Death Penalty are some dark and desperate ideas and the very foundations for doom metal and it's history which we take very seriously.

If it is your policy only to do business with large corporations then I would encourage you not to pick up the Live 83 release.....I hope you do though as it totally kills....

Quietus

Hiya Ben,
As I said in my earlier private e-mail, there are some people you can trust and others not in the music game.

This CD has been dreamed of by lots of NWOBHM fans for in excess of 20 years and, as Quietus says above, the CD IS 100% 'OFFICIAL'. I can verify that to you and this guy (Quietus) has been around and enjoying the band's music since the start!!!!

So take heart and be aware that there are people on this forum and website who are just watching out for the band. Cheers, Nick.

woah woah guys! I'm sorry if I've offended anyone lol!

Quietus, yes I know the ethic of the original NWOBHM spirit, and yeah, I buy supposedly hard-to-get cds of amazon, but that doesnt make me any less of a fan, as you said they're is literally hundreds of bands which only sell stuff off independant labels, hey, theres still a dozen or so essential albums I still need to buy yet but cashflow does restrict such things lol. Besides, I dont own a credit card which you need to purchase stuff off E-Bay.

And I also fully understand their music is highly influential to the Doom scene, Im not trying to insult anyone, especially not the band! However being a guitar player myself, I tend to concentrate on the musical side of things rather than the lyrical but i can tell you i love their stuff.

I'm sorry I misunderstood the live album being a bootleg, and I'll see what I can do to get hold of it, thanks for the help guys.

And yeah, as I said its great to see people talking about NWOBHM, all my freinds are into mainstream stuff and havnt a clue most of these bands even exist.

Hey Ben,

All is forgiven buddy .....I get really worked up when it comes to WFG!

Die hard!

Quietus

Heyyyyy! No harm done, glad you're into WFG!!!

Welcome to the forum.

Can tell you how get a CD to you if you mail me an address, not e-bay

Corny, but yummy on the latter

Welcome aboard

yush, yush they are

I've been listening to them a lot lately, my all time fave song of theirs is Soviet invasion, not only is it a kickass song (that main riff - SO HEAVY), but the dynamics of the song are very startling, these guys were experimenting with DROPPED C!! and in 1982 that was very low-tuned, not even Sabbath tuned it that low! (the lowest they got was Dropped C#) I was amazed because I started playing along with it and when it got to the breakdown in between the verses i was like "hang on a minute, that cant be dropped C...." Just goes to prove how ahead of the times these guys were considering many death/black/power/doom/alt etc metal bands use dropped C TODAY.

As for the albums as a whole, Im edging towards Freinds of Hell (the title track alone is such a good song), but both albums simply shine, my fave track off Death Penalty is probibly Witchfinder General (the song).

so yer, i thought i would just share that with you guys lol, out of curiosity what are everyones pick out of the 2 LPs?

Have a look on the 'Your favourite WFG song' thread. It's been a while since anyone added to it but it's still there.
Copey's a genius man(and a very modest one at that )

Hiya Ben,
Sorry if I sound ignorant but what the hell is a dropped C???!!!


I thought C was the only note we had in tune !!

well standard tuning on a guitar is in E, now, they tuned the guitars down to D (a whole step) then further tuned down the top E (or D in this case) to a C, giving you a deep, heavy sound.

This is Dropped tuning, where you tune down the Top string to make an open powerchord, it makes powerchording easier as all you do is barre the top 3 strings in any fret, as i said many heavy metal bands these days use this technique in either dropped D or C, but back in the lat 70s/early 80s not many bands did it or it was reseved for certain songs.

However this technique is becoming overused as its considered "lazy" by some guitar players, but forget them, personally I use both tunings equally. As I said back in 1982 this such low heavy tuning was unheard of, in fact i cant think of any other band from that era that used dropped C, only sabbath came close with C# (half a step up).

lol sorry for the complicated post but I tried to explain it the best i can

Thanks for that Ben, something else for the lads to be proud of, experimenting with the dropped C.
I would say it was more the fact that the tuner was on the blink and the pitch just kept on getting lower and lower.


Talking of experimenting: one back fired for Zeeb when the lads were recording Friends of Hell album in the Horizon studios, Coventry.

Microwave ovens were new to the UK back in the early eighties and certainly none of the lads had had any experiences with them. All the meals in the studio were microwave meals and it soon became a novelty to cook a meal in seconds.
One day Zeeb wanted a boiled egg for his lunch, so he placed the egg into the microwave and set the time for two minutes. When the time bell rang Zeeb opened the door but to his surpise the egg exploded in his face causing him to scream out and run to the nearest wash hand basin to wipe away the burning egg.

I suppose its fair for me to say, that the YOKE was on Zeeb.



True story.