Coven - Worship New Gods (1987)

This is not the thrash Coven from Seattle, nor the Chicago occult prog rockers most active in the late 60s and 70s, but a heavy/doom act out of Michigan (also known as Coven 13) which is finally seeing the CD issue of its seminal 1987 album Worship New Gods through Shadow Kingdom Records 25 years after it's original release. Naturally, the debut sounds as old as it looks, but I think for a good number of fans in this niche, its antiquity will only serve in its favor, as it conjures forth a genuine nostalgia for the 80s efforts of bands like Cirith Ungol, Pentagram, Manilla Road and St. Vitus. Sword and sorcery spent in harmonious, atmospheric flesh with plenty of variation to keep the listener hooked as if he/she were smoking a bone while deeply immersed in a Fritz Leiber or Michael Moorcock story.

In truth, Coven covered a rather broad swath of terrain with this record, from the pure Black Sabbath digs and grooves of opener "Riddle of Steel" to the Viking arena-punk of "Ruler", which almost sounds like it was being played at some open air festival to an army of Saxon dogs, churning chords below the appreciable bombast of vocalist David Landrum whose jilted inflection carries all the way to the rafters of the stadium. Songs like "Burial Ground" provoke a total war mentality, with great, reflexive drumming and nasty chord curves worthy of the barrows and crypts the title promises, while others like "Threshold of the New" ride aloft a surge of pure NWOBHM thunder interlaced with off the hinge lead sequences and bumper car bass lines that seem like a byproduct of the 70s more so than the 80s. What's more, the level of reverb and the raw, lower volume of the guitars tend to immortalize the hooks and drums throughout; by today's standards, of even by the higher budget acts of the 80s, Worship New Gods might seem amateurish, but these very flaws lend it a timelessness that transports the listener back to the grounds of its fertile creation.

Landrum can prove a bit much in places, as his delivery is constantly wavering and in a few spots marginally out of pitch, but overall I think its imperfection too lends the record a distinct character which it might not otherwise enjoy with a tighter, polished performance. It says a lot that, after 25 years and no other prior exposure aside from perhaps a Youtube clip, this album can work its charms on someone so new to it, and even when it descends into total clamor like the freakout mid-"Loki" in which Landrum gets perhaps a little too 'in character', I found myself drifting back to memories of caverns and castles, witches and warlocks, heroes and rogues, dragons and damsels, and enjoyed its warped miasma of doom, early British 80s hymns and punk hysteria. If you're one to unlock the crypts and mine the dustbins and annals of obscurity within the trad metal spectrum, Coven's debut deserves a first listen, or a second listen; it's as fuming as a mythic bull ready for the charge, but also frivolous and fun. Do you read Robert E. Howard stories and listen to Samson, old Maiden or Spartan Warrior? This will butter your bread. The real question is, now that they're active again, can they follow this up with an equivocal level of immersion and personality?

Verdict: Win [8/10]

http://www.coventhirteen.com/

Coven - Boneless Christian (1993)

It was hard being a thrash band in 1993, unless your name was Metallica, or Sepultura, or Pantera. And yet, others were plodding along, including Coven of Washington, who released their third and final 'opus' Boneless Christian. It had been four years since Death Walks Behind You, and the time away had certainly made a few changes in the band's sound. You have a few different guitar players adding guitar solos here, some new members, and some of the songs were written by an outside contributor. The core of the band's sound remains: meaty thrash metal with sacrilegious and bordering on stupid lyrics. But there are quite a few subtle differences that made this album a letdown.

Let's talk about improvements though. The bass and drums on this album are a far cry better than the previous releases. The bass really pops along below the thick palm mutes, and the drums feel far more vibrant and punishing. Before it was the guitar and vocals that drove the band's compositions, the rhythm section was simply hanging along for the ride. Listen to the bass in "Christsycle/Reaming the Pope" to hear the change. No, on this album, it's actually the vocals that take the back seat.

Sure, they still have the tendency to infect when they start opening up, but I found most of patterns here kind of silly and dumb.They bounce around in abandon over a slew of busy if not so memorable guitar rhythms, and while an argument can be made that this is the band's most 'polished' studio effort, it's also very cheesy and feels like the well of Hell has finally dried up. I think the ridiculous "Fuckin' a Nun" has the only set of guitar rhythms here that I could get behind. Even when the band gets a little more thoughtful in the riffing, like the almost proggish thrash that starts to take shape in "Boneless Christian", I wasn't hooked. The vocals throughout most of the album are weak, aside from a few points at which they carry some of their earlier, Tom Araya influence.

Fed up with a diet of force-fed religion
With every problem, therein lies it's own solution
We could feed every Christian
To the hungry and the homeless
But before you do, you'd better
Make sure they're boneless!

By this point, devouring Christians and having sex with nuns were old hat. Death metal bands like Cannibal Corpse had arrived and spewed such sickening gore that the metal fanbase was quickly becoming desensitized. Bands like Coven, who once had the shock value to match their freakish riffing and vocals, sounded tame by comparison, and this album really falls flat. Where before the band maintained a crunchy, wild composure to their writing that hooked me for two albums, Boneless Christian very much feels like a phoned in failure to achieve a past glory. The musicianship is not all that bad, but there just aren't any songs here that I can sink my fangs into. Seriously, not a single song that I would ever want to replay.

Highlights: Nun?!? I meant none.

Verdict: Fail [4.5/10] (this is the tale of Satan's tool)

http://www.myspace.com/911fun

Coven - Death Walks Behind You (1989)

Another year and another Coven album, the Washington scum sacrificing a little of their absurdity for a slightly more cohesive and serious affair. Don't be mistaken, there are still some giddy moments on Death Walks Behind You, but I found the band a lot more convincing this time around, if not really improved. While this album certainly sounds cleaner and has a few more overall riffs than its predecessor, it seems to deflate outside of a few better tracks, and the studio sterility robs a little of that grisly charm which identified Blessed is the Black. Jay Clark had tightened up his vocals, but they still possess some charisma and the ability to just fly off the handle like he did so often on the previous album.

This album starts off with one of Coven's better overall tracks, the mighty "Too Late to Pray", with the similar, excess crunch you were expecting. The vocals are on fire, and the riffs transform from a mid paced thrust to some breakdowns (i.e. mosh pit fuel), yet the excitement never slips away. "Ministry of Lies" is an average thrasher, reminding me of something off Sacred Reich's Ignorance only not as dense or pulverizing. "Spellbinder" has an outrageous energy in spite of its simple, flowing riffs, there is a forward momentum which recalls a song like "A Lesson in Violence" from Exodus, and this is definitely one of my favorites for this sophomore album. "Succubus" is another of their slower, rocking tracks, with some sloppy, squirrelous leads and a choppy crunch to the riffing which would not have been out of place on an album like Znöwhite's Act of God. It also has some of their most entertaining lyrics since "Iron Dick" on the first album.

Bitch of death and disease, whore to hell's master of slaves
Slut, going down on her knees, sucking you into the grave
Spreading her legs in air, Succubus weaving her spell
Consumed by her cavern of death
She opens her gateway to hell

The title track is about the equal of the opener, a pulse pounder with a great rhythm, again in the Exodus camp for its juicy cruelty, like a thrash steak simmering on a barbecue afternoon. "Frozen Bones" and "Propaganda" are both solid tracks, the rival of anything else on here except maybe the opening track, and "Justified Suicide" is anchored by a crazy vocal performance from Clark, his range rising and falling like a meat cleaver in a Sorority House. There is a nice breakdown here which should have had any pit in stitches. The serial killer anthem "Ted Bundy" is also pretty good, and unlike Blessed is the Black, the late album ballad here, "Silent Night (Violent Night") has some actual teeth to it, though it stands alongside "Ministry of Lies" as a skippable track.

Death Walks Behind You is truly a more solid lay than its slutty, older sister. It lasts longer, and there is more thrust to it, but it fails to reach the climax that came out of that raw, cavernous volcano of skin. Most of the tracks are as heavy if not heavier, yet you get the feeling it had already been done, and there is very little evolution aside from an obviously superior budget and attention to the mixing process. It's definitely good, just not great. If you enjoyed Blessed is the Black, then it does not deter from that path.

Highlights: Too Late to Pray, Spellbinder, Frozen Bones, Propaganda

Verdict: Win [7.5/10] (he contemplates the price that he has paid)

http://www.myspace.com/911fun

Coven - Blessed is the Black (1988)

While Washington State is best known for its grunge/rock movement, it always had a pretty thriving metal scene, heavily dominated by melodic bands in the 80s like Queensryche, Fifth Angel and Sanctuary. However, the grimy underbelly of the Northwest also had its cruel side, and that manifested in underground thrash titans like Forced Entry, Bitter End, and the oh-so-Antichrist Coven. Which a riff style similar to a chompier Slayer, and a hostile vocal dementia, this band were out to destroy all through a no-frills, meaty thrashing and a mockery of all things Holy. They produced three albums from 1988-1993, and of them all, their debut Blessed is the Black still shines the most, like the gleam of a succubus wing.

Coven were not a complicated band. The formula is very simple: write riff, and clobber. Write another riff, and clobber some more. It took me some years to adapt to their crunchy guitar tone, but I think now I can say that I enjoy it, at least across their first two albums. Jay Clark's vocals are simply insane here, like early Hetfield/Araya if the two were being crushed in a vice with their balls about to explode against one another. Every now and then he'll break into some uncouth scream which almost places the band in cheesy power metal territory, but most of the riffs here remind me of one particular band: Venom. Sure, Coven were a little more modern, a little beefier, and certainly heavier, but there is a humor to what they do which recounts the shock tactics of England's most hated (and loved) band.

Blessed is the Black breaks out the big guns first, in the title track. A melody winds along aside some of their grainy, Cap'n Crunch guitars, and to be fair it's quite a good riff that tears right out of the speakers and has your head banging hard. Clark's vocals are fucking beautiful here, a throat no longer possessed by a human being, but whatever demon has sauntered forth to dwell within. "6669" erupts with a riff reminiscent of later, filthy late 80s street Venom, while once again Clark captures the listener with some very catchy, fun vocals. This is pretty awesome, especially some of the band's tongue in cheek lyrics, like:

Six six sixy nine
Copulation with a corpse
Demons rape her rotting hole
Fucked and left to die

Sense of humor aside, these were some pretty blunt and disgusting lyrics for 1988, and it often feels like the band uses them for shock value, but at least on this album, they really jibe with the riffing. "Burn the Cross" has an infectious, slower paced riff, I would totally blast this out of my car. This is what they were actually listening to in Hell while Twisted Sister was on Earth TV playing "Burn In Hell." "Out of the Grave" develops a creepy acoustic segment, and the band is more restrained, with Clark using a cleaner vocal style not unlike Erik A.K. (Flotsam & Jetsam) from No Place for Disgrace. This could be considered a heavy metal power ballad by Coven standards, but honestly...it's pretty good. "Rock This Church" is more like "Burn This Church", a fist pumper which creates visions of hairsprayed 80s youths throwing bricks and beercans through the stained glass fixtures at their local cathedral. And then we arrive at "Iron Dick", which is so goddamn lame that I can't help but smile at the ridiculous lyrics.

Pulsating steel protrudes from my thighs
She who spreads is she who dies
Long as my arm and five times as thick
You'll die at the end of my iron dick

"The Monger" boasts another of the infectious speed rhythms that flourish a little melody while maintaining a meathook core. Fans of Piledriver, Hallows Eve and other early, dirty thrash metal felt right at home here, and even the retarded lyrics of "McDonaldland Massacre" cannot completely piss on the parade of its charging mosh pit angst. You don't want to admit it, because it's just so dumb, but you would bang your head to this and sing along, and so would I. "Another Life" is a pretty bland ballad, though it is still identifiable as Coven it really does not belong here. The acoustic riff is aimless and the keyboards sound like shit, only the vocals shine. But the album ends on another high note, the melodic thrasher "Creature of Duty (And My Duty is Death)", which pops with Hellish glee as it sparks into another Hallows Eve, low-down charge.

How does it hold up? I'd say for the 6-7 stronger tracks on the album, quite well. The sound is so crisp and crunchy that it might take some getting used to, but if you liked vile and dirty thrash metal in the 80s which really sold itself on the wild hostility of its vocalist and a solid set of backing riffs, the appeal is obvious. This debut remains the most fun of their catalog, and while the band is often overlooked for the more impressive, technical speed/thrash metal acts of their day, this album at least is worth owning for collectors.

Highlights: Burn the Cross, Rock This Church, Iron Dick, The Monger, Creature of Duty (And My Duty is Death)

Verdict: Win [8/10] (brought to life a slave of death)

http://www.myspace.com/911fun