Angel Witch

Angel Witch is a British heavy metal band which formed in London, England in 1977 as part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement.

Biography

The band was formed, originally under the name of Lucifer, and was initially composed of guitarist and vocalist Kevin Heybourne, guitarist Rob Downing, drummer Steve Jones, and bassist Barry Clements. Lucifer split and Steve Jones joined up with Bruce Dickinson to form Speed. The remnants of Lucifer became Angel Witch, with the exceptions of Barry, who was replaced by Kevin Riddles, and Steve Jones, who was replaced by Dave Hogg. The following year Rob Downing left the band.

Angel Witch's first song to achieve mainstream popularity was "Baphomet", which was included on a compilation titled Metal for Muthas. This song drew a fair amount of attention to the band, and they eventually signed a recording deal with EMI. However, the deal was soon canceled, due to Manager Ken Heybourne refusing to hand Angel Witch over to professional management, and bad performance of their first single released under the EMI label, which was entitled Sweet Danger and lasted a single week on British top charts.

On 1980, Bronze Records picked up the band and they soon proceeded to record and release their debut album, self-titled Angel Witch. This album is considered one of the most notable from the NWOBHM, but subsequent to the album's release, the band's structure began to fall apart. The sacking of Dave Hogg, and Kevin Riddles leaving the...
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