Death Penalty is the debut studio album by British heavy metal band Witchfinder General. It was released in 1982 on Heavy Metal Records. The album received some criticism for the cover photograph, which featured topless model Joanne Latham. The photograph had been taken in the yard of St Mary the Blessed Virgin Church in Enville, Staffordshire, without the permission of the local Reverend.[5] The album was originally released on LP and picture disc and was later reissued on CD. Pictured on the cover is Phil Cope, Zeeb Parkes, Graham Ditchfield and a member of their road crew.[1] While Peter Hinton is credited with producing this recording, the writers Phil Cope and Zeeb Parkes always felt the credit should have gone to the engineer Robin George.[1]
| Death Penalty | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | September 1982[1] | |||
| Recorded | 10–11 April 1982[1] | |||
| Studio | Metro Sound Studios, Mansbury, England | |||
| Genre | Heavy metal,[2] doom metal | |||
| Length | 30:01 | |||
| Label | Heavy Metal Records | |||
| Producer | Peter Hinton | |||
| Witchfinder General chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [2] |
| Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal | 10/10[3] |
| Kerrang! | (favourable)[4] |
Track listing
editAll tracks by Zeeb Parkes and Phil Cope.
Side one
- "Invisible Hate" – 6:05
- "Free Country" – 3:10
- "Death Penalty" – 5:35
Side two
- "No Stayer" – 4:25
- "Witchfinder General" – 3:51
- "Burning a Sinner" – 3:28
- "R.I.P." – 4:04
Personnel
editWitchfinder General
edit- Zeeb Parkes – vocals
- Phil Cope – guitars, bass (bass credited as Woolfy Trope)
- Graham Ditchfield – drums
Production
edit- Pete Hinton – producer
- Robin George – engineer
- Tim Young – mastering at C.B.S. Studios
- Joanne Latham – cover model
References
edit- ^ a b c d "Phil Cope interview". Witchfinder General Official Website. November 2004. Archived from the original on 11 September 2015. Retrieved 7 May 2014.
- ^ a b Rivadavia, Eduardo. Death Penalty at AllMusic. Retrieved 2013-01-15.
- ^ Popoff, Martin (1 November 2005). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 2: The Eighties. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Collector's Guide Publishing. pp. 416–417. ISBN 978-1-894959-31-5.
- ^ Dome, Malcolm (19 November 1982). "Witchfinder General – 'Death Penalty'". Kerrang! (29). Archived from the original (JPG) on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 7 May 2014.
- ^ "Updates : The return of Joanne Latham". Metal Gods.net. 1 March 2005. Archived from the original on 10 May 2006. Retrieved 7 May 2014.
