After a (too) long intro, TYGERS OF PAN TANG enters the stage at Amager Bio at approximately 8 PM.
I am immidiately thrown right back into my teenage years when they start to play the song “Only the Brave”, and I get goosebumps all over and a huge smile on my face!
For me it doesn’t get more old school than this! This is exactly the type of music I loved when I grew up during the 80s and 90s (oops, I guess I just reveiled my age) and I feel totally nostalgic!
This old school heavy metal sound is rarely heard these days around modern stages, and because this type of music is what made me explore the metal scene more, I just love this!
All five members of TYGERS OF PAN TANG are very skilled musicians, and they play really well together, but somehow the guitarists and singer are the ones stealing my focus from the other members.
Singer Jacopo Meille has a really strong and rock solid voice, and he is totally flirting with the audience and the cameras in front of the stage. He is a true entertainer and fun to watch and listen to.
I am SO impressed by both guitar players, Robb Weir and Micky Crystal, as they are really synching their riffs and melodic guitar solos with singer Jacopo’s singing.
The guitar solos are just as long as I need them to be (and I like them to be quite long) and In this oldschool type of heavy metal, the guitar riffs should be heavy and the solos melodic in my opinion, and both guitar players do a damned god job in satisfying what I am looking for.
It’s been a while since I saw some clean old school heavy metal live, and when they play the last song of their 60-minute set, I am dissapointed that they don’t play another hour, because this is a band I could look at and listen to for much longer than that.
If Tygers of Pan Tang comes back to Denmark on tour, I will be the one standing in the front row, banging my head and playing air guitar.
See you there?
This album contains more hooks than a rush-hour London train contains passengers but will make you perspire just as much. Moreover, while the songs possess a fair amount of melody, the influence from AC/DC is always round the next corner, partly due to the singing of Pete Franklin and partly due to the rock solid rhythm section. Just listen to ‘Rock My World’ or ‘Killing Machine’ and you’ll see what I mean.
My only gripe concerns the cover art…it would have been great to have something more colourful. But nevermind…because by and large there isn’t anything here that I haven’t been spinning repeatedly these last few days. Even the sound production feels spot on.
Groundbreaking? No sir, just Classic Metal done properly.
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Let me make one thing clear…the new album from Chariot is a killer. More of the world needs to capitulate under the might of this album. Driven by this objective, I took a walk down to the pub to meet up with Pete Franklin, lead vocalist and guitarist with Chariot. He also co-founded the band back in 1983, formed the band Dirty Deeds (with pre-Judas Priest guitarist Ritchie Faulkner) before then reforming Chariot around 2004.
Besides discussing “The New Horizon Dawns” Pete makes some intriguing revelations such as his connection with a pre-Iron Maiden Paul Di’Anno and his life’s crossroads with Steve Harris who lived within walking distance from him, in this the North Eastern corner of London.
Happy viewing!
]]>The roots of The Deep go back to the time when the NWOBHM opened its floodgates, when the band still went by the name of Deep Machine. An experience of many years writing songs culminates in this new EP, “Watching You”. Here are 4 new songs of pure class, the fruits of a band who knows how to write catchy melodies, who knows how to make you pump your fist in the air, play air-guitar.
Basically we are dealing with a high-octane, Blues-infused Rock and a warm sound which acts as an ideal medium to maximise the impact. This is not a style we haven’t heard before countless times but The Deep execute the material with remarkable passion. At least that’s the impression I get.
For me vocalist Tony Coldham is one of the underrated singers of Rock & Metal but he sounds quite different in live and recorded scenarios. In any case his voice is unfalteringly solid. Once we’re on the subject of band members…two of the songs, ‘Watching You’ and ‘Taking Over’, are the first songs recorded with neo-recruit drummer Alan Mogg. The other songs feature previous The Deep drummer Fraser Powell. As a single unit, the band sounds quite tight too.
Thematically, these 4 new songs are either introspective or observational. One of them, ‘Prepare To Rock’, was written as a tribute to those who lost their lives in the Bataclan attacks but it can also be interpreted as a paean to Rock music. But my favourite is ‘Taking Over’, a relentless and infectious song.
Finally, the EP includes 4 live-tracks (segued into each other as 1 track): these are songs that had first appeared in the band’s debut (and only) album and were this time recorded live at the British Steel Festival in France in 2016. All in all, this EP is a neat mini-package with album-type duration (over 40 minutes).
The Deep are already working on their sophomore album and, apparently, the songs in “Watching You” were ones that didn’t fit into the way the album seemed to be developing. In other words, I don’t think they will appear in that forthcoming full-length. All the more reason not to miss this EP then!
THE DEEP live in Belgium (Note: this is not the same live recording that features in the EP):
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2 or 3 songs into “Attrition”, I’m not yet convinced this is a release that stands up to what it represents. ‘I’m The One’, a power-ballad, came along as a surprise…an oddity even. After a while, however, I began to warm to the album. ‘Lest We Forget’, is not the album’s fastest number but it has some great lead vocals and some intriguing guitar melodies. ‘My Only Son’ – which reminds me of Magnum – also has some top notch guitar work.
So although initially I had mixed feelings about “Attrition” the album seemed to grow on me more with each spin. I don’t feel it rises to the heights of “Dark Days” – its predecessor – but it’s a rewarding listening experience.
As a footnote, shortly after the recording of “Attrition”, vocalist Simon Saxby and bassist Adrian Jenkinson both left Salem. Replacements for Saxby and Jenkinson have already been drafted but in order to avoid any possible legal wrangling the moniker has been changed to From Salem. Myself, I’ll probably still keep calling the band Salem.
]]>But I’ll go a bit further….well-written songs, great melodies, screaming guitar solos, fist-in-the-air riffs…these are some of the album’s ingredients that will delight the discerning Metal fan. Southern England’s Toledo Steel have been honing their craft since 2011 and “No Quarter” is only the band’s debut full-length.
From the riff-laden and anthemic ‘Visions In The Fire’ to the up-tempo ‘Sight Of The Sniper’ to the tongue-in-cheek ‘Heavy Metal Headache’, the album epitomises traditional, hard-hitting Heavy Metal. No more, no less.
]]>Night Demon is a power trio out of Ventura, California with a serious NWOBHM vibe. Jarvis Leatherby handles vocals and bass along with new guitarist Armand John Anthony and drummer Dusty Squires. Opening track ‘Welcome to the Night’ is a definite indication of their roots with its driving riffs and galloping drums. They also might possibly be into Iron Maiden. Between the song ‘Maiden Hell,’ complete with lyrics consisting of nothing but Maiden song titles, and the wannabe Eddie on the cover, it’s pretty obvious. However, for all the love Night Demon has for Maiden, for me they are not the most notable influence. Songs like ‘Stranger in the Room’ and ‘Life on the Run’ have more of a Saxon flavor, while ‘Black Widow’ feels kind of like Dio era Sabbath. Then there’s ‘On Your Own,’ which could be a long lost Armored Saint track. However, for all these comparisons, each track still has its own Night Demon flair. For instance, the instrumental ‘Flight of the Manticore’ reminds me of a lighter version of something Revocation would do more than anything from the NWOBHM days.
Night Demon are some of the finest practitioners of “traditional” heavy metal. They celebrate everything that was good about the NWOBHM movement and their fellow Americans that followed suit. I appreciate bands like Night Demon. With all the originators only getting older and/or passing on, it’s good to still have groups to keep the traditional heavy metal flag flying high. So get out your battle vests and bullet belts, and put the final touches on that cardboard air guitar. Night Demon is bringing it old school with Darkness Remains, and you’re gonna want to be ready!
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