Story Behind the Song: Cathedral: "Hopkins (The Witchfinder General)"

One of my favorite songs from the pioneering British death/doom metal band Cathedral is "Hopkins (Witchfinder General)". The song starts off with the very distinctive great horror actor Vincent Price introducing himself:

"My name is Matthew Hopkins, Witchfinder."

So, I assumed that it was just based on an older British horror movie, which is of course where the samples came from as well as clips in the music video.


I was unaware that Matthew Hopkins was a real person and held the self-made office of Witchfinder General around the mid 1600's in England. He was active from 1645 to 1647 and during that time, he and his associates were responsible for more hangings than anyone else in the previous 100 years.

Hopkins used a variety of methods to elicit confessions, even though torture was unlawful at the time. He would also cut the arm of an accused witch with a dull knife, and if they bled, they were considered to be a witch. He also used the swimming test to see if the accused would float or sink. It was a swimming test in name only though as the accused would be tied to a chair and thrown in the water. If they floated, the water had rejected them and they were a witch.

Hopkins wrote a book about his time as a witch hunter called The Discovery of Witches, which was published in 1647. Some of his methods were used in the Salem Witch Trials in the United States.

The Story Behind the Song Pt. 2: Hail of Bullets: Nachthexen

Summer 1941
Instructors start to train
A night bomber squadron
The 588th
Regiment of women
From pilots to mechanics
Claim their role in history
These aviatrixes

Polikarpov biplanes
Providing ground support
Temperature plummeting
To -54
Climbing the dark cloudened sky
Engaged in dog-fights
Up to 18 missions
In one single night

High above Rodina
For the umpteenth raid
Female fighter aces
Send their bombs away
Through the deafening sirens
Struck by heavy flak
Although riddled with bullets
All made it safely back

Shrieking madonnas
Lead spitting banshees
Baptize them in fire
Iron Valkyries
Incoming Nachthexen
Set the ground ablaze
Push the throttle up again
And hear their screams of pain

Hail of Bullets is a Dutch death metal band made up of members of Thanatos and Asphyx (the amazing vocalist Martin Van Drunen). Their debut full-length album, released in 2008, was called ...Of Frost and War. It was a concept album about WWII battles between the Soviet Union and Germany.

The Soviet Air Force 588th Night Bomber Regiment was made up entirely of women. The Germans nicknamed them the Night Witches. The Regiment mostly flew harassment and precision bombing raids and mostly flew biplanes initially designed for cropdusting. They were said to have dropped 3,000 tons of bombs with each plane only able to carry two bombs at a time. They were the most highly-decorated unit in the Soviet Air Force.

An entire combat unit of women in WWII? Talk about progressive.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_witches

The Story Behind the Song Pt.1: Lion's Share: Barker Ranch

Lost and gone or buried as the family died
After decades of grief without executions
The moment is here
One more song of hatred, it is all I can give
While I dig in the dirt with high expectations
To bring back the peace

And I'm going back to Barker Ranch
'Cause it has to be the end
Going back to Barker Ranch
I will take you home

Forty years of sadness
And the wounds never healed
In the nights I can't sleep
It'll haunt me forever
Nightmares on repeat

And I'm going back to Barker Ranch
'Cause it has to be the end
Going back to Barker Ranch
I am justice
So I'm going back to Barker Ranch
I will take you home

I'm going back to Barker Ranch
'Cause it has to be the end
Going back to Barker Ranch
I am justice
So I'm going back to Barker Ranch
'Cause it has to be the end
Going back to Barker Ranch
I will take you back home
Take you back home

These are the lyrics to "Barker Ranch" by Lion's Share which was mentioned earlier in my Best of 2009 So Far post as possibly my favorite song of the year. So far it doesn't have a lot of competition. I knew from the first time I really heard it that it had to be telling a story, I just didn't know what, so I looked it up. Ah, wikipedia.

Barker Ranch was the last hideout of Charles Manson and the Manson Family after the Los Angeles murder spree in 1969 is located in Death Valley National Park. At the time the Manson Family was captured, they were arrested on charges of vandalism. Soon though it became apparent that the prisoners were much worse than ordinary vandals.

In 2008, 40 years later, investigators returned to Barker Ranch to perform testing to determine if there were any other murder victims hidden there. This investigation was spurred by frequent rumors of additional victims. The investigators found several sites consistent with clandestine grave sites but no evidence or human remains were found.

http://www.ripleysghosttowns.com/barkerranch.htm