BLACK WIDOW Sacrifice CD (1970)

Before Black Sabbath had fully mapped the territory, a handful of UK acts were already crawling through the same dark soil, and Black Widow were doing it with occult theatre and a brass section.

Released in 1970, Sacrifice is the record that got Black Widow banned from venues and written up in the British press for their live rituals. It deserves your attention not as a curiosity but as a legitimate proto-metal document, somewhere between progressive rock's ambition and the nascent heavy metal underground, with organ, flute, and the kind of ominous groove that sounds like a séance that got out of hand. "Come To The Sabbat" is the obvious entry point but the whole album builds like a ceremony, which was entirely the intention. Essential context for anyone tracing the lineage from occult rock through to the doom and gothic metal that came after.

CD reissue. Tracklist: In Ancient Days, Way To Power, Come To The Sabbat, Conjuration, Seduction, Attack Of The Demon, Sacrifice.

Fans of: Coven, Lucifer's Friend, early Uriah Heep, Writing On The Wall.