Witchcraft Destroys Minds & Reaps Souls
| Witchcraft Destroys Minds & Reaps Souls | ||||
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| Studio album by Coven | ||||
| Released | 1969 | |||
| Recorded | 1969 | |||
| Genre | Psychedelic rock, hard rock, acid rock | |||
| Length | 45:55 | |||
| Label | Mercury | |||
| Producer | Bill Traut | |||
| Coven chronology | ||||
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| Allmusic |   |
Witchcraft Destroys Minds & Reaps Souls is the debut studio album by the American 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", and the opening track is "Black Sabbath".
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":
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