Coven 6669 (Washington state, U.S.A)

Biography: Thrash never sounded so evil and funny!!!! - 95% Written by cravingforvenom on August 2nd, 2010

Coven was formed in the late 1980s just north of Seattle Washington. The classic lineup featured Dean Babbitt, Paul Hash on Guitar Neal Babbitt on drums Gary Peebles on bass & Jay Clark on vocals.

The band recorded three albums between 1985 & 1993 Blessed Is The Black, Death Walks Behind You & Boneless Christian these continue to be international classics because of their blending of several metal genres and unique style.

Coven is back again in 2012 like a malignant tumor again! Dean & Neal Babbitt are joined by lunatic front man Jamie Carter, thrasher extraordinaire bassist Eric Close and the diabolically sinful guitar work of The mysterious UnderBishop!

Seattle, WA will always be remembered by people in the rock music fraternity as the birthplace of grunge and early progressive/power metal of which the former became a widely followed religion worldwide in the nineties while the latter sure enjoyed good success towards the end of the eighties. Little do they know that the city also spawned a devilish fiend and its name was Coven. Wicked, funny, diabolic, inhumane, perverted and demented are but a few terms that pretty much summed up the songwriting prowess. One look at the album cover of “Blessed is the black” and you could be sure this isn’t going to be conventional hard rock singing about love, compromises and family issues. While they did not break any new grounds musically as much of it could still be dubbed thrash with just a few leanings towards doom, power and even black metal, their lyrical content certainly raised a lot more eyebrows than what the band may have even expected themselves. Coven sure did release one stunner of a debut album with an absolute unrestrained approach.

Before I got my hands on this record, I had heard a lot of good things about it if not convincing enough to give it a shot sometime. Upon playing the title track the first thing that caught my attention was the production and I thought to myself “For the year 1988, this production sounds as raw as an early eighties Venom or Bulldozer demo”.

After the main riff which sounded quite captivating, the real show stealer stepped in and he’s the maverick vocalist Jay Clarke. Holy crap BATMAN!!!! This was one of the most vicious vocals I had ever heard; when I thought I’d heard it all. The guy sounded almost like he was standing at the altar, screaming his lungs out to deliver an antireligious sermon. His vocal talent is definitely laudable because of his ability to bark out guttural grows and throwing in a few Tom Araya like shrieks as well. I still wonder if he ever had to undergo surgery on his vocal chords. The rest of the pack certainly had their basics in place. Good catchy riffs, controlled and precise drumming for the most part and tight basslines lay the foundation.

As mentioned earlier, while most of the songs here are rooted in thrash, there are various other genres that can be heard here. Perverted humor is inevitably heard on the tracks “6669” and “Iron Dick” whereas crunchy thrashers include “Burn The Cross”, “The Monger” and the title track. “Rock This Church” is an absolute heavy metal anthem with that brilliant American power metal influenced main riff and a maniacal chorus that literally despises and desecrates the church of God while the band hits top gear on “McDonaldland Massacre” reeking of old school crossover and crust in contrast with the former.

The biggest surprise present on this album are the two power ballads “Another Life” and “Out Of The Grave” which are extremely doom metal in nature and sound nothing like any of the other tracks. With clean vocals and acoustic sections thrown in to good effect, these two tracks provide a good balance. The album finisher “Creature of Duty (and My Duty is Death)” has got to have one of the best song titles in business and is yet again another top notch thrasher almost along the lines of English thrash veterans Deathwish.

It finally made sense to me, why this record received generally favorable reviews. It sounded extremely original and the songwriting (despite the sick humor) sounded very mature and controlled. Not very often would you come across an album that explores practically most of the genres in heavy metal, but if you wish to experience a whole new variety of thrash metal, then look no further. In retrospect to the high speed antics of Dark Angel, Slayer and Wehrmacht this one provides a refreshing change and is highly recommended!!!

Coven - Blessed is the Black [FULL ALBUM] HD

Coven - Boneless Christian (1993 full album)

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