My dear readers please do not confuse Coven from Detroit, MI, US with Jinx Dawson's occult 70s Psych Rockers Coven from Chicago, Illinois, US. The band of our review -who was actually approached by Jinx to change their name to Coven 13 is a unique example of dark and inspired 80s Metal music delivered to the masses in a very special way, musically speaking.

Here we got 80's Heavy Metal delivered in an obscure -and the word here is used to describe the music- way. It is a fact that the band has crossed a strange musical path and the result is one of those records that can only be included into "love it or hate it" list.

In the record you can hear influences by early Candlemass -and Nemesis-, Black Sabbath of the first years, Manilla Road (Metal & Crystal Logic albums) plus some Mercyful Fate and Celtic Frost touches here and there. If you hear more carefully you would discover a proto-Black Metal approaching on the compositions and you may allow me to add my heretic comment in here: sometimes when I was hearing those hypnotic guitars and vocals I brought into my mind a Metalised version of the UK's Gothic band Bauhaus keeping the blackness but singing about the fallen man and the Steel he made (perhaps it is the vocals of David Landrum as well, he sings in a very special, ritualistic and hypnotic way bringing into my mind sometimes the voice of Peter Murphy).

I would sacrifice a goat to those new gods to learn what the hell was inside the minds of the band members when they were composing such music, and I would kill to be one afternoon on their rehearsal room. Yes this is a personal favorite however I can point my personal picks form the album which are "Riddle Of Steel", "Burial Ground", "Jail house" and "Threshold Of The New" which is perhaps the most Celtic Frostish track of this record (but meanwhile this one is a good example of my heretic comment it is THIS one that brought Bauhaus into my mind the most).

You may take your time to get into the album, you will need it for sure but once it clicks, there's nothing quite like it. This is one of the rarest US Metal albums to ever exist because it was self released back in 1987 on vinyl only. This is the first official release of it on CD with a lot of amazing band photos.

This album will open your mind and rape your soul. Worship it!

ps. I think they got a later -early 90s- demo called Ragnarok -as Coven 13-. Why wasn't it included as a bonus in here? Perhaps we should hope for another re release by the mighty Shadow Kingdom :)


http://shadowkingdomrecords.com/

Review by: Countraven