Album review : BLACK WIDOW – Sabbat Days, The Complete Anthology 1969-72 (6CD Boxset)

Cherry Red [Release date : 30.08.24]

Formed in 1969, English band, Black Widow – the “Godfathers of Occult Rock” - initially rivalled Black Sabbath.

This 6 CD box set anthologises the band’s recordings. They were basically a Prog / Hard Rock band. Everything else was theatre.

CD1 : Pesky Gee. Pre-Black Widow band recording w/bonus tracks (1969).
CD2 : Sacrifice – original demo album (1970). Released in 2012.
CD3 : Sacrifice – the final version (1970) w/4 bonus live tracks.
CD4 : Black Widow (1971) w/4 bonus live tracks.
CD5 : Black Widow III (1972) w/2 bonus live tracks.
CD6 : Black Widow IV (1973) The intended BW IV release. A mix of finished tracks and demos. Eventually released 1997.

Their live shows… the sacrifice of virginal maidens, the occult imagery, the dance with the devil … a wholly invented ethos, gained them huge public attention. The tabloids loved it. It created lurid headlines. It had a market.

But before they sold their soul to the devil, they were known as Pesky Gee, a heavy psych/prog band. Herein lie the roots of the Black Widow sound.

And the things is… this was a talented band. The arrival of guitarist, Jim Gannon and vocalist, Kip trevor was just the catalyst it needed.

A year later, their new image having got the public’s attention, the band released their debut album, Sacrifice.

The inclusion of the demo version of Sacrifice, alongside the finished article, is worth a few plaudits. The label, the producer, whoever, dialed down the passion and enthusiasm on the studio produced version, resulting in a more polished finish, but losing the raw, primal undercurrent that runs through the demos.

Still, the arrangements hold fast in both cases.
None better than on opener, ‘In Ancient Days’, where a church organ, spiralling out of control, clearly a metaphor for the arrival of the antichrist, sets us on the highway to hell.

The band’s best known song ‘Come To Sabbat’ has the tribal rhythms and primal chants you might expect, but the lyrics sound bohemian rather than satanist; “Discard your clothes and come on foot, Through streams and fields and moonlit moors, your body soaked in secret oils”.

As an entertainment – progrock dressed in satanic clothing – it works just fine.

Dark and mysterious as the prevailing mood was on second album, Black Widow, the magic, black or otherwise, had gone. Nothing lasts forever.

Black Widow III (there is no II) and Black Widow IV (not released until 1997) were unremarkable, derivative affairs, looking for a niche they never seemed able to find. The rich musical mix of guitars, sax and keys proved to be long on promise, but short on fulfillment.

Black Widow proved to be a band very much of their time. ***

Review by Brian McGowan

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