Evil I?: Witchfinders and the magical power of ambiguity at stake in doom metal

Abstract

Themes involving witches and witchcraft have fascinated metal musicians and audiences throughout the history of the genre, perhaps especially so in the broad and long-running subgenre of doom metal. In particular, the idea of witchfinders has occupied the imagination of successive generations of doom musicians. I investigate the enduring appeal in doom metal of this marginal historical figure, showing how representations of witches and wizards complement the construction of the witchfinder. Though witchfinders may represent violent male control over female sexual power, and though cursory analysis of patterns of narrative closure in lyrics may suggest the dominance of this male control, I suggest that the ambiguous power of witchcraft is by no means domesticated, neutralized or resolved in doom metal. I examine four cases of witchfinder songs, from four different decades of the doom metal tradition: Coven’s ‘Coven in Charing Cross’ (1969); Witchfinder General’s self-titled song (1982); Cathedral’s ‘Hopkins, Witchfinder General’ (1995a); and Electric Wizard’s ‘I, the Witchfinder’ (2000). I discuss how identities and categories are disrupted in doom metal’s evocation of witchfinders and witchcraft, through destabilization of subject positions in song narratives, through the shifting relations between voice and sound, and through the consistent undermining of linear narrative through noise, rupture and cyclical returns. While the witchfinder is frequently evoked as a figure of control over witches, I show that witchcraft may yet subvert subjective identity, destabilize narrative, and escape control through its ambiguous relation with power.

Putting the ‘studies’ back into metal music studies

“…There are innumerable examples of excellent scholarly excavations of metal music and its culture that uphold high standards of methodological precision. To take just a few examples, in the qualitative spectrum, we find Hill's (2014Hill's ( , 2016Hill's ( , 2018 (Elliot, 2018;Coggins;Hay, 2018). In the quantitative sphere, we find comprehensive statistical analyses of metal's global cultural diffusion (Mayer & Timberlake, 2014), metal festival demographics (Guibert & Guibert 2016), and key works like Bryson's (1996) 'Anything but heavy metal'.…”