Coven Witchcraft Destroys Minds & Reaps Souls 1969 Satanic Heavy Metal Very Rare

$

125

Coven Witchcraft Destroys Minds & Reaps Souls

Label: Mercury ?– SR 61239 Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Gatefold
Country: US Released: 1969 Genre: Rock Style: Hard Rock, Psychedelic Rock

Tracklist

A1 Black Sabbath 3:27 A2 The White Witch Of Rose Hall 3:04 A3 Coven In Charing Cross 4:01 A4 For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge 4:37 A5 Pact With Lucifer 3:28 A6 Choke, Thirst, Die 3:23 B1 Wicked Woman 2:58 B2 Dignitaries Of Hell 4:05 B3 Portrait 2:32 B4 Satanic Mass 13:17

Companies, etc.

• Record Company – Mercury Record Corporation

Credits

• Arranged By – Coven (3), Jim Donlinger
• Design – Jerry Griffith
• Engineer – Mal Davis
• Other [Dominus Limini] – Chis Neilsen, Chuck Lishon, Dave Wilkerson, Jim Donlinger, Jim Nyeholt
• Other [Ipsissmus] – Bill Traut
• Other [Magister Templii] – Jinx, Oz Osborne, Steve Ross
• Other [Magus] – Jim Donlinger
• Other [Philosophi] – Ginna Donlinger, Joel Sebastian
• Other [Practici] – Al Dawson, Charlotte Ceasar, Don Drumm, Lance Massey, Mike Bean, Robin McBride, Tom Donlinger
• Other [Zelators] – Bill Blair, Bud Carr, Buddy Meyers, Dan Baughman, Eddie Higgins, Fred Bohlander, Jack Mondrus, Jack Woodman, Jim Golden, Jim Pilster, Judy Haywood, Larry Gordon, Lynn Janutka, Pat Griffith, Sheila Edwards, Vivian Bouchard
• Photography By – Sig Binder
• Written-By – B. Traut*, D. Wilkerson* (tracks: A4, A5, B1), G. Donlinger* (tracks: A5, B2), J. Donlinger* (tracks: A1 to A3, A5, A6, B2), J. Dawson* (tracks: A4, B1, B3), O. Osborne* (tracks: A4, B1, B3), S. Ross* (tracks: A4, B1, B3)

Coven was composed of vocalist Jinx Dawson, bassist Greg "Oz" Osborne (not to be confused with Ozzy Osbourne), guitarist Chris Neilsen, keyboardist Rick Durrett (later replaced by John Hobbs), and drummer Steve Ross. They are recognized as being the band that first introduced the "Sign of the Horns" to rock, metal and pop culture (as seen on their 1969 debut album release Witchcraft Destroys Minds & Reaps Souls).

Witchcraft Destroys Minds & Reaps Souls is the debut album of the psychedelic rock band Coven. Released in 1969, it was unusual in that it dealt with overtly occult and satanic themes, and was removed, in the past time, from the market soon after its release due to controversy. However, it remains a classic of its genre, and in some ways set groundbreaking trends for later rock bands. This album marked the first appearance in music of the sign of the horns, inverted crosses, and the phrase Hail Satan. Today, these are characteristics of the occult and heavy metal genres. According to rock journalist Lester Bangs, "in England lie unskilled laborers like Black Sabbath, which was hyped as a rockin' ritual celebration of the Satanic mass, something like England's answer to Coven". As a further coincidence, Coven's bass guitarist and co-writer (Mike Osborne) is credited as "Oz Osborne".

One of the songwriters, James Vincent, appears with the name "Jim Donlinger" on the album. He actually was not a member of the band (prior to this he was in the band Aorta), but was asked by Bill Traut, Coven's producer (and founder of Dunwich Records, whose logo also appears on the album), to write, arrange and co-produce the album together with Traut. Vincent describes the event in negative terms, as a "bizarre album project":

"Bill brought me a large box full of books about witchcraft and related subjects. He told me to read them and start writing some songs ... Sometime before the sun came up, I had completely written all the material requested of me for the entire album ... Coven also contributed one or two songs to the project."

Dawson and Osborne, after playing together in the group Him, Her and Them, formed Coven with Ross in Chicago in the late 1960s. In 1967 and 1968 they toured, playing concerts with artists including Jimmy Page's Yardbirds, the Alice Cooper band, and Vanilla Fudge. Dawson began and ended each Coven concert with the sign of the horns. Coven signed with Mercury Records and released their debut album, Witchcraft Destroys Minds & Reaps Souls in 1969.

The music on the album was considered underground rock; what made it distinctive was the heavy emphasis on diabolical subject matter, including songs such as "The White Witch of Rose Hall" (based on the story of Annie Palmer), "For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge", and "Dignitaries of Hell". The album concluded with a 13-minute track of chanting and Satanic prayers called "Satanic Mass" (written by their producer, Bill Traut, of Dunwich Productions, and described as "the first Black Mass to be recorded, either in written words or in audio"). This Satanic Mass was also the first time Latin phrases such as "Ave Satanas" (Hail, Satan) were used in occult rock music, and later Satanic and Black Metal bands continued this innovation (see List of songs with Latin lyrics for some examples). Also included inside the album, was Coven's infamous Black Mass poster, showing members of the group displaying the sign of the horns as they prepared for a Satanic ritual over the naked altar.

Unwanted publicity came to the band in the form of a sensationalistic Esquire magazine issue entitled "Evil Lurks in California" (Esquire, March 1970), which linked counterculture interest in the occult to Charles Manson and the Tate-La Bianca murders, while also mentioning the Witchcraft album and its Black Mass material. As a result of this unwanted publicity, Mercury withdrew the album from circulation