Witchfynde

England's Witchfynde was just one of many early-80's groups to be conveniently lumped into the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, but they were nowhere near as sonically extreme as their exaggeratedly Satanic image and references would suggest. In fact, despite displaying a wealth of heavy metal influences, their music was characterized by a strange duality, as prone to embracing downright dumb pub rock workouts, as it was to indulging in high-concept songwriting reminiscent of 70's progressive rock. Formed in Nottinghamshire England, Witchfynde's roots can be traced back as far as 1975, but it wasn't until late 1979 that vocalist Steve Bridges, guitarist Montalo, bassist Andro Coulton, and drummer Gra Scoresby achieved any manner of recognition with the release of their first single "Give ‘em Hell." Signing with Rondolet Records in early 1980, they quickly followed this with a proper album bearing the same name and a none-too-subtle cover artwork (boasting a goat-headed-devil-monster-thing) which, no doubt, gave future black metal pioneers Venom an idea or two. But the album's contents could hardly be called extreme, only bordering on heavy metal most of the time as the group flirted with prog-rock excess and punk rock simplicity in equal measures. It did, however, land them a coveted support slot on a tour across the U.K. that summer with fast-rising N.W.O.B.H.M. stars Def Leppard, after which Witchfynde quickly set about recording their second album of 1980 with new bassist Pete Surgey. Released just before the new year, the notably mainstream Stagefright toned down both the occult imagery and the more aggressive elements of the band's sound, confirming to most observers that Witchfynde's affiliation with heavy metal was tenuous at best. Indeed, hard-edged material was...