Angel Witch: Lighting The Past And Future
Had you been kicking around the smoke and leather filled rock clubs of Britain in the late seventies/ early eighties then you would have heard the name ANGEL WITCH on everyone’s lips or being bellowed out to the tune of the band’s ionic eponymous track. Bringing an extra edge of speed and aggression to the movement the band became commonplace in the influences and record collections of metal acts everywhere from titans like METALLICA and MEGADETH to more extreme acts like SIX FEET UNDER and CELTIC FROST. Still going strong despite a couple of breaks and returns, ANGEL WITCH’s new record Angel Of Light unleashes elements of the band’s past and sets them alight in the present day.
This being the band’s first record in seven years, there were a few bumps in the road before the only constant in the band’s line up, guitarist, band founder and leader, Kevin Heybourne, felt the urge to return to the studio. “We were treading water from 2013 for a few years.” He tells us. “Bill [Steer, former guitarist for NAPALM DEATH, as well as founding and current CARCASS guitarist] had to leave, because CARCASS got busy, and our drummer went a bit odd and took the vibe in the band down a very dark road. We weren’t functioning properly until we got that worked out.”
Continuing with Will Palmer on bass, recruiting Jimmy Martin on guitar and Fredrik Jansson Punkka [former WITCHCRAFT] on drums, the new lineup clicked and helped bring Angel Of Light to life. “In all, everyone just takes it so much more seriously than any line up I have had in the past, tight players who play for the song, not themselves and really give a fuck about the band’s sound as a whole,” Heybourne tells us. “It’s not always been like that, so many people in the past would suggest things where they could just show off their chops or whatever. All about bigging themselves up, and not about the song. The song should be king, we’re all just a mechanism for the song to manifest itself.”
With this new, more positive incarnation of the band the songs began to “manifest themselves” as Heyborne puts it, a lot easier. “We were enjoying being a band, enjoying playing live and there was a creative spark there. If you have the opposite situation, where there is darkness and people within the group playing odd little power games I can’t sit down and start conjuring riffs up. You need to be inspired, and enjoying playing with your band is about as good as it can get for a songwriter.”
But whilst there’s a new line up and refreshed attitude, there are many elements from the band’s history creeping into Angel Of Light. Not only did Heybourne bring back his Marshal JMP from the first album into the studio with him but also with lead single Don’t Turn Your Back being redux of a live bootleg dug up. “Don’t Turn Your Back completely happened by accident. We posted a photo from the studio on our socials and a fan of ours from Finland asked us if we’d record the song. The other guys in the band had never heard of it, but this guy had some mp3s from 1984 and Will made him email it over. Turns out it was from an original tape of mine actually, which I still have. Anyhow, I wasn’t too into the idea at first, but I could feel that the other guys were about to gang up on me, so I caved in and I started running through it with Fredrik, right there in the live room. What do you know, we listened back to it and it sounded pretty good!” In honour of this remarkable blast from the past, the band gave 100 cassettes of the single away.
The album’s midpoint The Night Is Calling is also a chunk of ANGEL WITCH history. “We’ve been playing that track in the set again for about ten years! We love it, and it always goes down really well, so we thought we should try and do it justice in the studio.” But with this always comes the pressure of keeping the songs sounding up to date with the rest of their material. “The main worry was that it would be too tight, too “played in”, and that it wouldn’t feel fresh, but I think it sounds the same as the rest of the album, in terms of the energy and vibe. I am glad I finally got a chance to do it properly.”
Ultimately that’s what it feels like ANGEL WITCH are doing with Angel Of Light. Recharging the past and sending it hurtling into the present day. “That is what we feel,” Heybourne confirms before signing off. “But it would sound a bit self-congratulatory if we went around saying that ourselves, but since you said it…” With a legion of dedicated fans and an influence that continues to spread across all of metal, ANGEL WITCH aren’t content with just kicking in the past; they’re also coming for the present and future.
Angel of Light is out now via Metal Blade Records.
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