The band’s second album had seen guitarist and founding member Kevin Heybourne continue as the leader of the band, with new members bass guitarist Peter Gordelier and lead vocalist Dave Tattum joining him. The replacing of Heybourne on lead vocals with Tattum had been a polarising decision, with Heybourne deciding to concentrate on his guitaring duties was the best option for the band. Tattum’s vocals after Heybourne’s beloved versions on the debut album made the second album one that met with a little resistance as a result.
Coming into the follow up, drummer Spencer Hollman came in to join this trio. Given that it had been almost five years between the band’s first and second albums, it was more than surprisingly that it took only seven months for the follow up album to appear. It was comprised of completely new material, with none of the songs brought in coming from earlier in the band’s career. Perhaps the quick turnover gave the band some momentum to work with, by bringing more new material out quickly it offered fans something to grab onto, as well as saying “we aren’t going to leave you wondering when our next album is coming out, here it is!” And now, all that had to be determined was this – given the very short turnaround between albums, was the material that the band (in essence Heybourne) had composed strong enough to make this album a better experience than the previous one? All would be revealed as Angel Witch released their third studio album titled “Frontal Assault”.
The title track “Frontal Assault” opens up the album. It jumps out of the blocks immediately without any chance to prepare for what is to come. The tempo jumps immediately into a pleasing double time and forceful style. The driving riff from Heybourne and the mostly single toned vocal line from Tattum tend to combine the darker and thematically musical tones of the band’s early work with a slightly brighter and faster pace to bring it into focus for the age the album was recorded. It acts as an excellent way to begin the album and set the focus for what is to come. This is followed by “Dream World” which begins with a great guitar riff before Tattum’s vocals join in quickly once again. The bass line from Peter on this track is excellent and nicely positioned in the mix to give it the added focus it deserves. The addition of Heybourne’s contribution to backing vocals during the chorus draws attention to the two contrasting styles of Angel Witch’s vocalists. It is an interesting decision to combine them both here in this way, given Heybourne’s higher vocal range that brings about the point of difference with Tattum’s very one tonal level throughout. Heybourne’s solo again dominates the track and gives the song the exclamation point it needs. There’s a bit of everything on this song that makes it interesting and fun with the more melodic and brighter sound.
“Rendezvous with the Blade” begins with the best sounding start to the song, inducing a real injection of energy into the music, it bounces along, continuing the desire to combine the sounds like a true Angel Witch song into a desire to bring a modernisation to the album. The strong riff and excellent solo from Heybourne bring the real strengths of the band to light here. Tattum does not over extend his vocal lines and there is a drive from the bass line and drums on the song. There is also a nice melody in the vocals during the atmospheric backing. Heybourne’s guitaring on this track is the defining quality, and offers a true dive back deep into the band’s core sound of its early days. Following this is “Religion (Born Again)”, where Heybourne leads us off again with the start of the track. A great heavy riff and drum beat elicit a bobbing of the head in time to the song. Tattum's vocals are at their best in this environment, not trying to stretch beyond what they are capable of, and in the process creating a great sounding track. Lyrically it plays out with a great solo play from Heybourne. It’s a decent song, delving into topic of the cycle of religious belief and disbelief, combining spitting lyrics with a solid musical backing to close out the first side of the album.
The second side opens up with “Straight from Hell”, where the band returns to a straighter heavy track, a great riff from the outset and Tatton again sticking mostly to his range where he sounds at his best. It’s the basics that are performed well here. You can’t argue with the great riff from Heybourne, the rhythm is doing their job by creating the bottom end of the track, and the vocals are some of the best on the album. It’s a solid punchy style that brings back the heavier aspects of the band’s music. Angel Witch head into their epic song phase with the follow up song “She Don’t Lie”, one that tells the story of a girl messing with black magic and in the process stabbing her lover to death. Well played! There is a much more melodic feel to this song as a result of the story, changing up the music and the subject matter, and creating a song where the two don’t match, but in the process creates a song worthy of what it is. It is an offbeat tragic love story mixed with dark forces, and the way the music is composed to tie in with the lyrical content suits it perfectly. Tattum’s vocals here also suit everything that surrounds him.
Back into the fiery pit we go with "Take to the Wing”, from the outset the tempo increases frantically, a great speed set by the rhythm and guitar. Angel Witch the band are at their very best on tracks like this, where the pace is brought up to the top of their game, and Heybourne’s cracking guitar solo through the middle of the song electrifies it even further. Tattum charges along on this track, taking control vocally and seemingly enjoying the ride he is taking. This breaks the mould in some facets for the band who have not always dealt in fast paced almost thrash like tendencies, but this remains one of the band’s best songs through their catalogue. That may just be because of my preference and penchant for speed in music, but I think they found a winner on this song. Immediately though on the following track “Something Wrong” we are back into the tempo and mood that Angel Witch like to surround itself with, a track with a more introspective mood, with a sense that recalls the band’s earlier work. The pacing is measured, allowing the vocals and guitar phrasing to take centre stage. Thematically, it deals with internal struggle and disillusionment while the guitar solo is one of the album’s more expressive moments, adding depth to the song’s reflective tone. If you would like me to choose between the two styles of which these last two songs have been performed, I will have “Take to the Wing” every time.
The album closes by returning to a more urgent musical and thematic focus with “Undergods”. Drawing on the core music of the debut album once again, this is a compact and intense track, with a driving rhythm and momentum. Heybourne offers even further proof of his ability to create a riff and solo that captures the ears. It gives the album a closing track that befits what has come before it.
For those of you who have an interest in the band Angel Witch, I highly recommend that you check out the podcast Feckin’ Metal Podcast, hosted by the wonderfully entertaining and informative Ferghal. In 2025 he and his guest host the equally entertaining George did a deep dive retrospective of the band over several episodes, discussing the band and all of its releases. In particular, episode 106 concentrated on this particular album, and it is more than worth your while going back and listening to – along with everything else on that podcast. It is one of the best out there.
Some years ago now, once we had come to the years of file sharing, I had set out on a quest in or to track down all of the albums of all of the bands that I had heard about from the years between 1979 and 1982 that made up what has been dubbed as the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. I wanted to not only discover some new bands and music, because those that I had been listening to now for 20 years were getting old and in some cases running out of good music to offer, and I wanted to know more about those groundbreaking years and the bands that were a part of it. One of those main ones was Angel Witch, whose debut album I discovered quickly and enjoyed immensely. That album you can listen to on this podcast on episode 174 if you are interested in its story. I then started tracking down the other albums of the catalogue, which began with the predecessor to this one, “Screamin’ n’ Bleedin’” from 1985, which you can also check out on episode 131 of this podcast. And then came this album.
It is negligible as to how much I listened to this album when I first tracked it down. During this experimentation period I got a LOT of albums I’d not heard before, and so I was trying to fit a lot in t a very short listening space that I had. So I know I listened to it a few times before moving on to the next, and that at that time it hadn’t grabbed me enough to make me want to listen to it more. A few years later though, about ten years ago when I was beginning to ferry around the kids to various after school activities, I would often have an hour or so to kill while waiting for them, and I began to recycle back through those NWoBHM albums, and THIS time, this album caught my ear. And perhaps that was surprising. But there was enough in the music here that reminded me of what I enjoy about Angel Witch, and I spent a happy few weeks of this being my go-to in the car a couple of times a week.
Finding a copy of this album that is anywhere near a price I am willing to pay to buy it has proven elusive, and it is nowhere on streaming services, so my burned CD copy remains my way to listening to the album (though like most things you can find it on YouTube). And having pulled it out again this week, I have enjoyed having it back playing in the Metal Cavern. There will always been a couple of disappointments with this album, at least until the Heybourne pulls his finger out and remasters and rereleases all of the albums from the band, because the first one is the production. Obviously, there was little money in the budget to give this the kind of polish that would really lift it. Because the songwriting overall and instrumentation is very good. The other point is that Kevin Heybourne, having been the lead vocalist on the debut album, had Dave Tattum singing here on the previous album and this album. Now he does offer some vocals on this album in places, but the chance to have both men singing on this album complementing each other is a missed opportunity. Despite this, I still enjoy this album to this day. I think it has some great material, and while the vocals may well be an acquired taste, I still think that once you listen to the album a couple of times and are used to Dave Tattum’s style they are effective enough and pleasant enough to listen to.
Angel Witch went through an interesting phase of their career following this album. Tattum was moved on shortly after the release and tour of this album, and the band played sporadically as a three piece for some time afterwards. It wasn’t until many many years later that a follow up album emerged, something that will hopefully be discussed on a much later episode of this podcast.
No comments:
Post a Comment