Just how many albums are there called “Resurrection”? I've already got Halford's “Resurrection” as well as Venom's. Are Milli Vanilli going to be coming out with a “Resurrection” album soon?

There's no doubt Angel Witch were the ultimate hard luck band to come out of the fabled New Wave of British Heavy Metal in the late 70's/early 80's. They were contemporaries of such acts as Iron Maiden, Saxon and Def Leppard. With their melodic but doomy approach to metal, many thought they were the natural successors to Black Sabbath. But poor business decisions, internal disruptions and band leader Kevin Heybourne's getting attacked by a knife-wielding looney all contributed to the gradual dissipation of Angel Witch. Heybourne has never given up the ship, though. He has kept some form of Angel Witch running all this time and for all I know, the band still exists. “Resurrection” is a collection of various demo projects the band has done over the last 15 years or so. Since it’s songs span such a period of time, we find a large cast of musicians spread among them They are Kevin Heybourne, Peter Gordelier:, Spencer Holman, Jon Torres, Tom Hunting andWink Taylor.

As to the songs, we have four from a 1987 demo, three tracks from a 1990 session and three from their most recent 1998 demo. Listening to these tracks, I sadly have to say the earlier stuff was better. The 1987 material was a perfect combination of NWOBHM gloom with a thrashier approach. Later projects saw Angel Witch get steadily heavier, with the 1998 material bordering on death metal. It was not an improvement. The group lost some of its trademark melody and Heybourne's vocals, noted for combining sweetness with anger, have markedly deteriorated. Still, this collection is well-worth picking up for an interesting look at one of the NWOBHM's most legendary, if unjustly obscure, acts..

This review is available in book format (hardcover and paperback) in Music Street Journal: The Early Years Volume 3 at garyhillauthor.com/Music-Street-Journal-The-Early-Years.