![]() ![]() The inside album cover features the first documented appearance of the horns being thrown, the inverted cross, and the phrase “Hail Satan” in American rock/pop culture. The band released their first album, Witchcraft Destroys Minds and Reaps Souls, in 1969 after signing a contract with Mercury Records in their own blood. The thought of including Chelsea Wolfe and Zola Jesus (recent discoveries that I am unabashedly loving) crossed my mind but they seem a too close to the gothy end of the spectrum to warrant inclusion (good call/bad call? Wolfe’s Burzum cover was pretty neat).Īlongside England’s Black Widow, Coven are credited as being one of the very first rock bands to embrace occult imagery and outright Satanic references, and chanteuse Jinx Dawson also claims to be the true progenitor of the “devil horns” (though Dio may have had something to say about that). ![]() I definitely want to hear from you guys on this one, as this particular sound occupies a place very near to my metal heart. So here you have it, a handful of my favorite feminine purveyors of occult rock – most of them are vocalists, but a couple of them play other instruments as well. Any band/musician who can tour with Electric Wizard, call half of Watain their BFFS, rock the stage at Roadburn (or, you know, essentially introduce the concept of Satanism to American rock music way before even Black Sabbath or Pentagram were beckoning us forward) the way they have already boasts enough cred to put half the crowd at MDF to shame. The following bands aren’t truly metal, but they flirt with enough occult references and genre staples to warrant a free pass. In the ensuing decades since Jinx Dawson and her merry men first married black magic with heavy psych, plenty more women have ventured down the left-hand path. Bluesmen gave it its desolate soul, but in the late 60’s, Coven draped it in black velvet, lit the candles, and sacrificed it, fanning the flames straight back down to Lucifer. ![]() Rock’n’roll has always been the Devil’s music. The Devil is bigger than ever (bigger than the Beatles!) and the chorus of converts singing his praises has grown louder with every Ghost album downloaded or pig’s blood-smeared Impiety shirt sold. I suppose “occult rock” is a handy enough term for it, anyway it’s easier than stringing together “70’s-influenced psychedelic doom rock” to describe the aural spells these wicked women weave. ![]()
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