What makes this Witchfinder General EP such an awesome treasure in the realm of doom metal is that it contains the band’s only known live recording—at least, that was true until some of the band members revealed that the live version of “R.I.P.” was a fake. At the request of Heavy Metal Records’ label head, Paul Birch, samples of enthusiastic fans were overdubbed in the studio to create a live effect. Curiously, once this fact was revealed, it made the Soviet Invasion EP twice as collectable (hence the 2004 and 2007 reissues of the EP). Originally recorded in 1982 with a limited pressing on 12-inch vinyl, the EP presented a title track inspired by Cold War tensions. That song opens pensively with acoustic guitar fingerpicking before detonating into leaden Sabbathesque sludge, as frontman Zeeb Parkes croons about fears of the U.S.S.R. instigating a third world war. This melding of early-'70s proto-metal with early-'80s lyrics that were topical at the time of hair metal’s heyday has somehow aged well, with an interesting contrast. The harder-driving “Rabies” is equally brutal and harmonious.