Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Witch Metal

Black Queen were an amazing Black Metal band from San Francisco circa 1998 that had amongst it's ranks Pete Jay (Assuck, Wormwood, Cheap Dates) and Bill Bowman (Nigel Pepper Cock, Project:Annihilator) This demo, titled Witch Metal was inspired by Argento's Three Mothers trilogy (despite being released before the uninspiring third installment Mother of Tears). Some years ago, Pete moved to Seattle. Supposedly he is working on a new incarnation of Black Queen there and wanted to share this lost classic in order to spread the word. Another bit of trivial knowledge: both Black Queen and Ludicra (and The Gault) played their very first show together in San Francisco in 1998. I really miss seeing them perform, they were just better and better each time continually raising the bar. Thanks Pete for kicking this down, it's brilliant.

25 comments:

Aylmer said...

You had me at Three Mothers. I saw Suspiria on the big screen last friday and it was like watching it for the first time. Tenebrae this friday, then Phenomena and Deep Red the two following. Downloading now, thanks

TMM said...

Lucky Day.....Witch Metal....like how Highland Tyrant Attack sounds????

ido said...

SUSPIRIA and black metal? Sounds good to me.

lloyd said...

Awesome, i've been wanting to hear this stuff for a while now. Got any Sangre Amado, while you're at it? Haven't heard that stuff in years.....

Peter Santellan said...

I will check this out.

mattack said...

Amazing! I think I have a new favorite band! Any chance of posting their other releases?

PCM2 said...

Hey, at least Mother of Tears was watchable. Have you seen Sleepless or The Card Player? Woof!

Unknown said...

this rules

rickets said...

fucking brilliant,thanks for this

Shelby Cobras said...

I love this band, but I think classifying them as "black metal" does them a disservice. They were so much more.

@ mattack: Another good one, The Anthropocalypse: http://illogicalcontraption.blogspot.com/2009/01/black-queenwormwood.html

Daniel said...

Went to see Rust Never Sleeps last night on the big screen..... Saw Assuck at Epicenter in SF with Assfort,killer dude...than the next night at fiesta grande...skated some ditches today in Austin. Now in my front yard with my dog Chachi,downloading this shit.This weekend Nunslaughter and Midnight in Tex-ass....Stoked.

Aylmer said...

Thanks to you and Pete for posting this, I LOVE it. Last track is the best Goblin cover I've heard. Excellent stuff. Helena Markos would approve!

crom said...

This is so fucking good.

kris138 said...

wow, this is awesome! thanks

Peter Santellan said...

Amazing stuff.

Unknown said...

Kickass!! I'm really happy that people are hearing this and digging it. Yeah, we never really considered ourselves black metal, but we definately were influenced. This is still some of my favorite stuff i ever recorded, and thats why i'm keeping it going. This demo was recorded completely on cassette 4-track. Look for some new stuff this year that is just as necro and witchy! And as we all know, Helena Markos never really died in a fire, she just went underground and started over.
~petejay

Unknown said...

and you can keep in touch with blackQueen here for now...

www.myspace.com/suspiriorum

Aesop said...

Thanks Again, Pete.

Unknown said...

i also have to give total props to Bil Bowman here. This demo was just me and him, playing and writing. He and i grew up together in florida and played in bands together, and it is to a great degree the reason why i feel that this music is so heartfelt.

ifdead said...

Dude. I cannot thank you enough for sharing this. I lost my copy years ago and have only memories of this amazing album. Maybe it was the drugs, maybe it was the time, but I loved the band.

Herodotus said...

This is fucking unbelievable! Thanks for sharing this gem!

Jackalope Guy said...

I was thirty seconds into this album and I knew I had a new favourite on my hands. Agree with Shelby Cobras, this is so much more than black metal, one of the most original things I've heard in ages. Thanks once again Aesop!

Jackalope Guy said...

Oh, and I nearly forgot, cheers to Pinche for making such amazing fucking music!

The Random Rant said...

This was excellent! For some reason I can't quite put my finger on, it reminded me of J. Mascis' side project called Witch. Maybe its just the slightly unhinged quality of the whole thing, which is a quality I always dig.

Clint B said...

Finally got around to checking this out. Awesome. Ran into a lady in Seattle this summer, an EXCELLENT bass player, who says she was jamming with the new Black Queen lineup. Should rule!