COVEN 6669 — Blessed Is the Black (review)

COVEN 6669 — Blessed Is the Black album cover Album · 1987 · Thrash Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
Unitron
Blessed Is the Black is the debut studio album from thrash metal band Coven 6669.

Originally known as simply Coven, before changing their name to avoid confusion with the psychedelic/hard rock band of the same name, Coven 6669 set out to bring a humorous approach to thrash metal along with many anti-Christian themes. While the psychedelic/heavy rock act is the more popular, Coven 6669 does have a cult following among thrash fans.

Despite being released in 1987, which by this time thrash metal had been pretty well established with many classics released, Blessed Is the Black features a strong heavy metal sound reminiscent of bands like Mercyful Fate in songs such as "Out of the Grave" and "Another Life". I'm sure these guys were influenced by the aforementioned band, as not only is their sound reminiscent at times, but the occult imagery is in similar vein. By contrast, the thrash featured here is leaning towards the harsher side of bands like Slayer and Kreator. Kill 'em All/Ride the Lightning-era Metallica is also a valid reference.

As previously mentioned, the lyrics either range from the occult to the comedic. "Iron Dick" and "McDonaldland Massacre" are the two pieces of comedy gold featured here. While this kind of purposely offensive gory humor isn't for everyone, if it is your kind of humor it will be hard to not chuckle at such lines as "McDonaldland Massacre. He came inside, took a seat. They didn't know he didn't come to eat. Asked for his order, got a bullet instead. Ronald can't help... Ronald is dead." or "You'll die at the end of my iron dick!".

The production is unfortunately pretty rough, the drums can sound muffled and not have much force while the guitar has sort of a fuzz to it. Despite the weak production, some of the songs are too good for it to be much of a bother. "Rock This Church", "Creature of Duty (and My Duty is Death)", the aforementioned humorous tracks, and the title track all have some killer riffs. The latter especially with it's machine-gun riffing opening up the album, as well as the fantastic soloing on "Creature of Duty".

While the production is pretty weak, and it's not a "pure" thrash release, this is a pretty good debut album that I recommend to fans of the previously mentioned bands/releases. If you enjoy S.O.D, (Stormtroopers of Death)-type humor and heavy metal-leaning thrash, I'd say give it a try. However, the next release would show a bit of a switch in sound.

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