Ol’ Qwerty Bastard

if we can get TH to like them then i think they unanimously become MB's favourite band.

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Music Blog / RYM / Last.fm / Qwertyy's Journal of Music Reviews and Other Assorted Ramblings

Trollheart

Originally posted as part of Metal Month III, October 28 2015.

Note: those of you who didn't get through all of Metal Month III - or the previous year's attempt, come to think of it - may not quite be that au fait with this series, but it's pretty self-explanatory I think. I've been looking into crossovers, times when either Metal artistes stepped outside their comfort zone and tried another genre, or when an artiste from another genre tried Metal. And everything in between. We had some odd ones, but I think this may qualify as the oddest. So far, anyway.

I had no idea such a thing existed, but senors y senorinas, eet does! Holy frecoles! Ay caramba! And many other badly-chosen Mexican stereotypical quotes all used as a way to introduce you to...


Yes, it's finally happened! The most unlikely of linkups, the oddest of bedfellows, surely never the twain shall meet? But Metalachi are the world's first, and to date only, band who mix heavy metal and Mariachi music!

Legend has it, apparently, that the five boys, sent to America by their mother who could not afford to feed them and wasn't bothered anyway, landed on the shores of the land of the free to the sound of “Paranoid”, an album which completely took over their young lives and led to them forming the first ever band to mix their Mexican traditional fiesta music with our own favourite poison. Their website makes hilarious reading, but here is what I've robbed from it.

I'm not entirely sure who does what, but from the pictures this is what I guess:

Vega DelaRockha (Vocals)
Pancho Rockafeller (Guitar. Really, really BIG Guitar! Check the pic)
El Cucuy (Trumpets)
Ramon Holiday (You've got to love these names!) (Guitars?)
Maximillian “Dirty” Sanchez (Violin)
Warren Moscow (I'm gonna say drums. Edit: there are no drums, so I don't know what the fuck he does.)

The band released their first album, imaginatively titled Uno in 2012, and yes, I'm only discovering them now. What YOU been doing, huh? I'm told though that to really appreciate them you need to hear and see them live, but since I'm not heading to LA any time soon, this will have to do for now.

Uno --- Metalachi --- 2012 (Yardart Entertainment)

Luckily I was able to find this on Spotify, as I had worried it would be so niche that neither of the big two would have it (word to GPM users: they say they have it but they don't) so we can dive right in and the album kicks off with Ozzy's “Crazy Train” with a ig joyous roar of “All aboard!”, much laughter, “Me gusta!” and so on, then the song gets going on mostly violin and trumpets, putting a real Mariachi slant on the classic song from the ex-Sabs man. Then the vocalist (let's assume that's Vega) says “Vamamos!” and off they go. I love the cackling voices and whoops in the background which really add to the Mexican flavour, then a really nice violin solo from Sanchez, more whoopin' hollerin' and laughin' before we pile into “Rainbow in the dark”. This kicks off with a trumpet solo, more laughing, shouts of “Hondelay!” and so on, then the guitars take it mostly, with violin added in, some beautfully Mexican trumpet sliding in too. A great chorus and then the keyboard arpeggio is trumpets and violins to the mex. Sorry, max. It's played at a slower tempo than Dio's original of course, but it's a great version and it's fuckin' hilarious!

A truly special trumpet solo and then it all slows down on sad, melancholy guitar and violin, the vocal grinding to a snail's pace, trumpet slipping in too before it kicks up again for the big finish. I'm not sure who originally recorded “Man in a box” (I'm sure someone here will roll their eyes and inform me) but it starts off with a whispered hiss, then “You wanna dance?” before the song gets going on guitar and trumpet with a great group vocal. As I say, I don't know the song so I can't really say how well they do it (though it does sound familiar now that I listen to it. Perhaps a quick Google search ... ah! I see it's Alice in Chains. Well no wonder I didn't know it. Wonder why it sounded familiar? Anyway, time to close this bracket; it's been open way too long and now I've even used a semicolon to further my grammatical transgressions!) but it's a great song.

Goes through a few different tempo changes, kicking up in the last minute as El Cucuy unleashes a fine trumpet solo, and into “Sweet child o' mine” we go! I'm of course very familiar with this one (and indeed with every other track from here on) so I can tell you that the famous guitar intro is done on violin! And done very well too. You know, maybe that last guy isn't a drummer. I haven't really heard anything yet that you could call percussion: maybe Mariachi bands don't use drums? Mexicans? Not using one of the effortlessly noisiest instruments in music? Surely not? A great trumpet solo while I head off to Wiki to check and read up on Mariachi bands. Okay I'm back. What did I miss? Oh and no, seems no drums of any sort figure in this style of music. So what does Warren Moscow play? Your guess is as good as mine, amigo!

Superb violin solo there, one of the best interpretations I've yet heard, and it leads into another excellent trumpet one. In some ways, I wonder if the lines “Where do we go now?” is particularly poignant for a bunch of Mexicans? Not that they need worry: where they're going is up and into full superstars surely. I love the fact that they tackle “Run to the hills” next; I can already hear “Ron to de heels!” Sorry. Trumpet opening, superb, and the lack of the drumbeat that pulls the song into the first verse is catered for by some great acoustic guitar work, and the baritone backing vocals are hilarious and then there's a brilliant violin solo which I believe Dave and Adrian would be busting a gut at, and also applauding. Of course Vega can't reach the kind of notes Bruce does, but he gives it a good go. Fair play to them.

Few metal albums would be complete without a power ballad of course, and Metalachi have chosen the Scorpions classic “Wind of change” (that'll be the burritos then) with some fine trumpet work from El Cucuy and a really nice group vocal. Sweet little acoustic guitar passage then, and violin as we head into the final chorus with trumpet leading the way. Mind you, if you're going to do a Led Zep cover I would have preferred something other than “Immigrant song”, but they make a good effort of it, with some very lively violin as Vega does a decent Planty, though he seems unable to keep a straight face. That baritone backing vocal is there again (not sure who does that) and of course trumpet has its say as El Cucuy weaves his crazy spell. Chula (El Chula Vista?) would probably love this but I'm not that familiar with the song to be able to tell whether they do a good version or not. It's certainly enjoyable though.

And that quickly, we're at the end. Yeah, the album only has eight tracks and runs for just over the half hour, but they do end strongly with a fine rendition of Bon Jovi's “Livin' on a prayer”. Sure, it's no man's metal, but that's not really the point: this is after all just for fun, and though these guys can really play and aren't just peesing --- sorry, pissing about, you can't take it too seriously. And if you're going to do a Bon Jovi song, especially in the mariachi style, this is the best one to do, other than “Wanted dead or alive”. Come to think of it, I wish they had done that. I can just see it now: “I'm a gaucho, on a steel horse I ride, I'm wan'ed dead or halive!” Pity. But yeah they do a good version of the big hit, mostly driven on trumpet and with some fine group vocals. I'd just like to have heard Metallica. Or Slayer. Oh yeah, fucking imagine that! Well, maybe next time amigos...

TRACK LISTING AND RATINGS

1. Crazy train (Ozzy Osbourne)
2. Rainbow in the dark (Dio)
3. Man in the box (Alice in Chains)
4. Sweet child o' mine (Guns'n'Roses)
5. Run to the hills (Iron Maiden)
6. Wind of change (Scorpions)
7. Immigrant song (Led Zeppelin)
8. Livin' on a prayer (Bon Jovi)

Look, only the stoniest of hearts and those without a shred of a sense of humour or enjoyment in their lives could fail to love this. Not everyone likes Mariachi, but one thing it is is fun, and these guys have fun on a major scale. Is it poking fun at metal? Well when have we ever cared about that? And is imitation not the sincerest form of flattery, and people usually satirise the things they know and care about, so what's the harm?

I think it's fucking fantastic, and I wish them all the best on their journey. You really should read their website for more hilarious insights into the band, especially the finally cleared-up mystery of the “disbanding” of Flesh Mess, and the reason Pancho thought he was a midget for years, to say nothing of the guys' epic trip across the Rio Grande in saddlebags attached to a burro!

Oh yeah, this is fun with a capital F, and some pretty fine music too. Well done muchachos, and here's to Dos. Arriba!


Footnote: What the fuck? I said above that I'd love to hear them take on Slayer, and would you believe it? It's not on the album, but here it is!

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mythsofmetal

Very happy that you're back Trollheart! You can take a freshly forged rec from me in Hail Spirit Noir's Mayhem in Blue found in full on bandcamp. I think you've done one already by them, so if you don't want to take the rec, then take this other freshly forged album: Auroch's Mute Books. I think you'd like the HSN album better, though.

Frownland

Not sure if you noted it when I said it in the Love or Hate? journal, but you can switch Ulcerate's Vermis and Virus's Memento Collider out of there and into this journal.

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Studies show that when a given norm is changed in the face of the unchanging, the remaining contradictions will parallel the truth.

Trollheart

Yeah. Already did thanks.

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Trollheart

If you had to list the basic elements of most heavy metal songs, it's a pretty certain bet that God would not feature in them, except in a “Fuck off” or “You don't exist” or “I will destroy you” kind of way, or some other derogatory usage. Metal is about Satan, blood, noise, guts, girls, beer and many other things, pretty much all of them linked, if not to the devil then to what we shall refer to as bad behaviour. Killing, fucking, drug use, annoying the neighbours (possibly by either slaughtering and/or fucking them, and not necessarily in that order, or by just blasting your music so loud they want to move, or more likely, want you to move) and various other kinds of antisocial behaviour all make up much of what Metal is all about. You don't hear Ozzy or Halford singing about keeping the peace, or obeying your parents, and the kind of things Varg exhorts you to do are best kept between you and him.

So as we all know, Metal is about smashing or at least standing up to the establishment, making life difficult for those who stand in your way, keeping it loud and not being particular about who you screw, or whether or not they want you to. In short, everything the Church is against. But there are some bands who revere God and yet manage to stay totally bad-ass (within, obviously, accepted Christian parameters) and they practice what is known as Christian Metal.

Now, I hate being preached to as much as the next guy, whether it's someone trying to force me to buy something I don't need, convince me of something I know is not true, or just pushing a viewpoint I don't agree with. But what really bugs me the most is people trying to cram their religion down my throat. As a kid growing up in Ireland, you had little choice: there was no dissenting opinion. Everyone believed in God, everyone went to Church, at least until you were old enough to be able to make these decisions independent of your parents (age eighteen), at which time you could decide to go to Mass or not. I decided in the negative. But up until then, you believed. You had to. It was forcefed to you at school, reinforced by your parents when you got home. It was on the telly. It was in books. Priests would visit the house and you'd have to show them the sort of respect normally reserved for royalty. You were dragged off to mass every Sunday morning, whether you wanted to go or not (and we never did, well I didn't anyway) and made endure the pointless droning and equally pointless chanting responses for about an hour before you were set free. You had to dress in special Sunday clothes, and you couldn't eat beforehand as you had to receive Holy Communion. What was that ever about?

Anyway, this rather unpleasant trip down memory lane has a point. As I said, I don't like to be preached to, and after being spoonfed Christianity – and indeed, Catholicism – for most of my younger life, I tend to give it a wide berth these days, and get annoyed when someone tries to convert me or asks me why I don't believe. My answer is usually succinct and to the point, if a little rude.

Which leads us, via a somewhat meandering if typically Trollheartesque path, back to Christian Metal.

For the next few weeks I'm going to be looking into this phenomenon here, checking out some of the bigger, and smaller, bands in the scene, such as it is, and give you a taste of what they're like. If you can, try not to dismiss them out of hand, particularly if you hate religion, as if you can get past the sometimes poe-faced sanctimonious posturing in the lyrics (though in fairness, this can't be said of all Christian Metal bands) there's some really good music there to be enjoyed.

When the Crusaders went to fight in the Holy Land, they justified what became some of the most reprehensible crimes, nothing short of war crimes or even crimes against humanity, under the excuse of being there to take Jerusalem back and regain the city for God. They called it “Killing for Christ”. Whereas back in the Dark Ages they wielded swords and dressed in armour, now they wield guitars and keyboards, drums and microphones, and dress in denim and leather. Probably.

And so instead of killing for Christ we're now going to be


The first band I want to look at is one I'm a little familiar with, while most of these will be new to me. This band I featured a while back in my main journal, and was at the time quite surprised at how good they were, how heavy. They are given perhaps the longest genre tag I have seen in a while over at Wiki, to wit: “Christian neoclassical progressive power metal”. Hmm. Well, having sampled two of their albums I can probably agree with this: there are elements of all of the above in their music, and their lyrics are certainly centred around Christian worship.


The Great Fall – Narnia – 2001 (Nuclear Blast)

I can't find any details on how or where their beliefs began – maybe they were always Christians – but the album I experienced, 1999's Long Live the King was certainly a lot more in-your-face from the start about Christianity and mending your evil ways etc. This looks more like it may be a recounting of the tale of Satan's dismissal from Heaven, but we'll see. This is the fourth of so far seven albums, the last of which was only released this year and comes after a seven year hiatus during which the band had officially broken up.

With a title like “War preludium”, you know what to expect: a short track consisting mostly of effects (wind, distant rumble of thunder, you know the kind of thing), with some words as someone (Satan?) mutters about how tomorrow he's going to change the world then we're into the first real track as “The countdown has begun” (no, not “The final countdown”!) hits and we're off at a fine lick. Vocalist and co-founder Christian (yeah) Liljegren is in fine voice as the drums hammer along and the other founder of the band, guitarist Carljohann Grimmark pours on the riffs, though to be honest this does sound quite familiar to Long Live the King. It is kind of standard power metal, to be fair, but it rocks like a good thing. If this is the story of Satan's fall though, there's not nearly enough anger in the vocal. Harder riffing then in “Back from Hell”, but it seems that I've misinterpreted this as being a concept album, as this appears to be the tale of a soldier back from the war and trying to justify the killing he had to do.

Better vocal on this, almost shrieking at times, hard pounding guitar alternating with reflective, gentler riffs, though the siren at the end is pretty cliche. It does lead however into a nice passage on piano and guitar, with another spoken part which ends the song. “No time to lose” seems to carry on from this, as the soldier in that track mentions he's ”Heading on pilgrimage to the ancient city/ To restore my sanity” and in this next song he seems to be on the way. Maybe this is a concept after all, just not the one I had originally expected. I must be honest: I'm not as impressed by this album as I was with LLtK; maybe it was the novelty initially that got me so excited about it, but I'm a little bored now. That said, there's a crunching midsection in this song with a really emotional guitar solo which might go some way to restoring my faith, no pun intended.

Interesting idea, combining a soft piano intro with the sound of vehicles crashing, then speaking of crashing, the riff from the guitar snarls in, and with choral voices on the keys we're off again as “Innocent blood” does seem indeed to continue the story of the soldier's pilgrimage as he cries ”Jerusalem here I come” – a very gothic/symphonic metal choir thing going on here too. Some cool Arabic melodies to I suppose denote that the soldier has arrived in the Holy Land, only to find war is raging there too. Great solo from Grimmark here; kind of reminds me of Santana at times. Fades out nicely and into one of two instrumentals. This one is called “Ground zero” and for an instrumental it's quite long, over five minutes. Starts off a little like “The Peter Gunn theme” then ramps up and it's okay but a little indulgent perhaps. “Judgement Day” certainly brings in the progressive metal part of the band, and it hammers along nicely, taking its time to slow down to a grinding chugger in the middle. Some great shredding here from Grimmark and some fine keys too, then the second instrumental is much shorter, just over a minute, which takes us into the closer, the epic “The Great Fall of Man”.

This is epic in every sense of the word. It runs for over fourteen minutes, and it concerns, well, the end of days obviously, with a three-minute instrumental intro then the song does give the idea, as it says in the lyric, of tramping across the desert under the hot sun. Very powerful and dramatic singing here from Liljegren, almost operatic. Interesting use of a sort of nursery-rhyme melody in the eighth minute. Some more spoken word then near the end, over some dark synth and hissing percussion, then a mix of sounds of panic and chaos attended by a heavily riffing guitar as I guess we go down for the final time. And a very abrupt end indeed.

So it seems this may have been a concept album after all, but rather than focus on Satan's fall as I had originally assumed, I think that it now might follow the journey of the spirit of a dead soldier who goes to Rome to soothe his soul after dying in an unnamed war, finds death and destruction even there, and, possibly, sits back and watches Mankind fall into the abyss as the Apocalypse takes place. Or something.

Track Listing and Ratings

1. War preludium
2. The countdown has begun
3. Back from Hell
4. No time to lose
5. Innocent blood
6. Ground zero
7. Judgement Day
8. Desert land
9. The Great Fall of Man

I don't know: I think I was expecting more, given what I have already heard. This comes across more as a kind of standard prog/power metal album with elements of the Apocalypse in it rather than the rather more entertaining tracks like “Living water” and “Dangerous game” off Long Live the King. A good album, sure, and I did enjoy it, but not really the showcase for Christian Metal I had expected. Maybe I just chose the wrong album. Here, take a read of this and see what I mean. Narnia: Long Live the King

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Trollheart

For those of you who have not come across this section in my main journal, particularly during Metal Month, let me explain. On the Metal Archives website it's possible to select a random band, and the idea here is to do that, and then listen to something from that band and comment on it. Unfortunately, a large percentage of the bands listed are either unsigned, broken up or never released anything beyond a demo cassette, or are so obscure that it's impossible to track down their music, resulting in rather more misfires than fires for me in this process. Still, perhaps my luck is about to turn. So come with me as for the first time in this journal dedicated to all things metal we take our first fall into

As theoretically, if I kept having no luck this could go on forever, I've set a limit of four tries per session. So if I don't come across a band I can review on the fourth try, then it's marked up as a blank and we'll try again next time. But hopefully it won't get to that. Okay then, let's click

and see what the Metal Gods and Fate have in store for us...


All right. I would not hold out too much hope for a band who got together in 2005, released one EP in 2007 and are signed to a label called Dead Royalty, but we shall see. A death metal band hailing from San Jose, California, Memoirs' ony EP does not inspire confidence in the possibility of their longevity either: Les Morts (The Dead) and so it proves: they are not available. So we must push the button a second time, and see where we end up.

Well, this is even better!

A Power Metal band from South Korea! They have two albums but who will bet against my being able to find either? No of course I can't, and it doesn't help that their band name apparently means something in Spanish, so plenty of videos of bullfights for some reason. Add "South Korea" into the search parameters and you get, you guessed it, a lot of political videos about Korea. However, halfway down there is one video which appears to be one of their songs, so let's give this a blast before we move on.

Yeah, sound more like an eighties NWOBHM band to me, and not a particularly good one. Actually, it gets a little better near the end. Meh. Moving on.

Hardly seems a tough heavy metal name, does it? Constancia? Well these guys hail from Sweden and do at least have two albums, one of which was released only two years ago, so there might be some hope here.
Well what do you know? Both albums available on Spotify! So this is where we stop then.

Name: Constancia
Nationality:: Swedish
Subgenre: Progressive Metal
Born: 2008
Lineup: David Fremberg (Vocals)
Janne Stark (Guitars)
Mikael Rosengren (Keyboards)
Linus Abrahamson (Bass)
Peter “Trumpeter” Svensson (Drums)
Albums: Lost and Gone (2009), Final Curtain (2015)
Live albums: None
Collections/Boxets: None

I think this is the first time ever since I've been doing this that I've come up with a progressive metal band. Whether or not they're any good is another matter, of course. Mind you, with comparisons being made to the sound of bands like City Boy, Trillion and Styx, well, this just may be verging more on AOR territory than metal, but we'll see.

Anyway, they only have two albums, so it's not a hard choice: I've decided to go for the most recent offering.

Final Curtain – Constancia – 2015 (Melodic Rock Records)

Hmm. Sounds a bit like a synthpop band playing Riverside to me as the album opens with the somewhat cringeworthily-titled “Don't tread on my heart”, and it's very AOR, don't really see any metal in this at all. Good enough song, very keyboard-heavy, good vocal harmonies, good hook: AOR in other words. “Spectres” is a little heavier, a little more guitar-oriented, but I still don't hear metal here. Not much change in “Way to life”; I mean, it's a decent song, but I've no idea why it's listed under any sort of metal because it is most assuredly not. Good ending to the track, then “Live a lie” wears its melodic rock heart very much on its sleeve with a big bursting chorus to open, powerful vocal harmonies and a great hook. Vocalist David Fremberg can certainly belt them out, but there's more to metal than a powerful singer. This really is very light fare, and I'm already worried about a song called “Hang tough”. Sigh.

I was right to have my concerns. And it doesn't get any better as it goes on. Too many keyboard arpeggios taking centre stage, such as in “Hold on my heart” (about as non-metal a song title as I can think of), little in the way of proper guitar solos, no aggression despite the band's founder coining the term “melogressive metal” for this music, which is not only stupid but entirely inaccurate. “Lies within lies” tries hard to be tough and aggressive, bless its heart, but fails most embarrassingly, while “Little fighter” does its best too. These are not terribly bad songs, not really, but it's just they are so far removed from anything any self-respecting metalhead would consider metal it's almost funny. These last two do at least cut out the warbling keyboard and close harmonies and concentrate more on guitars that almost grind, and there are solos, but it's still a poor substitute.

It really doesn't get too much better on the last two tracks, which kind of passed me by. It's a pity really, as I think there are some half-decent ideas in there, but the guys don't seem to be able to decide what to do with them.

Track listing and Ratings
(Note: this is not an indication of what I thought of the album, rather, what I thought of it as a (so-called) metal album.)

Don't tread on my heart
Spectres
Way to life
Live a lie
Hang tough
Lucidia
Hold on my heart
Lies within lies
Little fighter
In your eyes
Final curtain

If I were reviewing this for an AOR journal – now, there's an idea – no! No, Trollheart! Down! You've already got more journals going than any human being could possibly expect to ... drop it! I said, drop it! Yeah, well, I guess, but still ... anyway, to return to my original train of thought: if this was being reviewed as an AOR album I still wouldn't be enthusing about it but I could be a little less critical of it. It's not a bad album by any means. But as a metal album, it sucks big time. It's nothing close to metal. I just don't see it. If they had coined a different term – say, melopassive rock or something – then maybe. But meloggressive? Nah.

So for the first time ever all I can award here is

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Trollheart

Originally posted in The Playlist of Life, October 1 2011

Although this is, as it makes clear above, recycled material from my main journal, I think it's worth reprinting here. This was and is the beginning of a major series looking at the singular phenomenon of the rejuvenation of heavy metal that took place in the late seventies and early eighties in the UK, which became known as the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, or NWOBHM.

Although the phrase “heavy metal” has been around for a very long time, and its first usage in reference to music goes back to Steppenwolf's 1968 classic “Born to be wild”, the first heavy metal bands rarely referred to themselves as such, preferring the term “hard rock” or even “heavy rock”. It wasn't really until the end of the 1970s that the term began to get more common usage, and started to become linked with certain types of rock bands.

During the late 60s and 70s, the heavy metal scene, such as it was, was pretty much dominated by “the big three”: Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and Deep Purple, who would later split to become Rainbow. You also had the likes of of course Hendrix, Blue Oyster Cult, Cream, Kiss and some others, but in general few if any of these bands considered themselves heavy metal. Long established, they ruled the roost and there was little room for newcomers, with the heavy rock/metal scene growing increasingly jaded as these bands, by now seen by some as dinosaurs, lumbering behemoths out of step with the changing trends in modern music, churned out album after album and filled stadiums and sports arenas, becoming, in the eyes of some, further and further removed from their fans, increasingly disconnected from what was happening at grassroots level.

What was happening, was happening in the UK, mostly in London, at a small nightclub called The Soundhouse, where aspiring bands were taking the stage every night and beginning to make a name for themselves. Tired of the by now overblown and in some cases pompous albums being released by the old masters, the new young guns were trying it themselves, and finding not only that they liked it, but that others did too.

The New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) had been born.

This revolution in rock music would create, in the same way punk had a few years previous, some great bands, some okay bands and some truly awful bands, but it would shake up the heavy metal/heavy rock scene in a way it had never experienced before, and lead to a renaissance of the genre. As in any revolution, there were winners and there were losers; some bands thrived and grew in popularity, and indeed a few became nationally and then internationally famous, and are still around today. Others were not so lucky. They either had their day, enjoyed it while they could and then disbanded, either to go on to new things or to return to their day jobs, or in some cases just failed utterly to get off the ground.

In this series, I will be taking a look at some of the major, and minor, movers in this unprecedented turnaround in the fortunes of heavy metal and rock in general. I'm going to try to concentrate on three bands per segment, and the whole series I hope to run to ten parts in all. So crank up your air guitar, turn your amp to ten, and let's get rockin'! Or something...

Part the First, in which a band has many deaths and rebirths, another goes all American and a third is cruelly cut down before it has a chance at life...


The first band I want to concentrate on, in this first part of the series, is in fact the oldest of the NWOBHM bands, actually predating the movement by a number of years. Praying Mantis were formed in 1974 by two brothers, Chris and Tino Troy, but it wasn't until new metal began to be taken seriously, with the onset of the NWOBHM, that the brothers were able to get their music recorded, and their profile began to prosper.

Carried along on the wave of enthusiasm and euphoria engendered by the NWOBHM, Praying Mantis, fleshed out by Andy Burgess (guitars), Benjy Reid (drums) and Mike Freeland (vocals) went on to support the band who would become the stars of the movement, and the biggest heavy metal band in the world, even today: Iron Maiden. This raised their profile considerably, and also won them their first recording contract with the Arista label, on which they put out their debut - and acknowledged as their best - album, Time Tells No Lies.

Although Mantis have released, up to this year, a total of ten albums, with a thirty-year-anniversary retrospective out in 2011, I'm constrained to review only two of their recordings here. The reasons for this are twofold: one, obviously, I don't have unlimited time not only to listen to, but review their entire catalogue, as this is not just an article on Praying Mantis, but on a selection of the bands that made the NWOBHM what it was. Secondly, as I like to use the sleeve as an image for each album review, this, coupled with the other images I'm using, restricts me as there are a maximum of ten allowed per post, and I don't really want to have to break this up into more than one part: as a series, it's already scheduled to be in ten parts!
Note: checks character count. Damn! No good: almost 10000 characters over! WILL have to split this into two parts! Or perhaps even three! Curse everything!

So hopefully I'll be able to give you a flavour and overall impression of a band I personally know nothing about in this short and restricted review. Of course, if your interest is piqued in this, or any of the other bands I'll be tackling, you're perfectly free to go get their other albums and listen to your heart's content. But brevity is not a thing that comes easily to me, so I'm doing my best not to overextend the articles here. Hey, I can try!

Time Tells No Lies - Praying Mantis - 1981 (Arista)


The album opens up with “Cheated”, a track I feel reflects the style of Stampede (although since their album didn't come out until two years later, I should say Stampede use influences from Praying Mantis!), and with some nice Thin Lizzyesque touches in the guitar work. For a debut it's very polished, really more in the AOR camp than heavy metal, with a very Yes or Asia-like sleeve created by Rodney Matthews, whose art was very popular at that time, particularly among metal and prog acts.

Next up is a cover version of the Kinks' classic “All day and all of the night”. Gets things rocking all right, but I've never been a fan of this song. Still, they do a good heavy version of it. “Running for tomorrow” returns to the AOR influences with a hefty slice of Yes-style prog rock in there too, while “Rich city kids” goes right back to rock basics, and must have engendered much headbanging when played on stage!

Things get serious though with the arrival of “Lovers to the grave”, and it's a whole new ball game! A tense, powerful ballad, the song reeks of Gilmour-style guitars and Waters vocals, so much so that you might (might!) be tempted to believe it WAS a Pink Floyd song. Very mature, very technically perfect, a true tour-de-force, and you suddenly realise this band has arrived! And then, in true Southern Rock fashion, the song speeds up as Tino shows just what he can do on guitar - oh yes, this is a band who were destined to go big places and last a long time.

The song does, however, quite disappointingly end abruptly, and we're into “Panic in the streets”, a straight-ahead rocker, little tinges of nascent punk leaking in. Some great guitar solos on this album! Also a lot of exclamation marks in this review: sorry, that's just how I am... “Beads of ebony” starts off heavy, but soon becomes a very tuneful slice of AOR. One thing these guys have got right from the start is vocal harmonies: they're pitch perfect. “Flirting with suicide” is another fast rocker, again recalling Stampede (sorry, other way round!) and the rocking continues unabated for “Children of the earth”, an early eco-song from a metal band! Absolutely love the harmonies these guys put out! This song speeds up and slows down like a forgetful pensioner behind the wheel...

“Thirty pieces of silver” is another great rocker with a heart and a deep message, and the album ends with two live versions, “Flirting with suicide” and “Panic in the streets”. I probably could have lived without their inclusion, but then this is a debut album, and with the addition of these two tracks you get twelve altogether, so good value for the hard-pressed and often poor metal fan at the time!

As a debut, I have to say this stands head and shoulders above anything I've heard from this era. Even Iron Maiden's debut, good though it was, was a lot less polished and varied in styles than Time Tells No Lies. A great start, without question.

TRACK LISTING

1. Cheated
2. All day and all of the night
3. Running for tomorrow
4. Rich city kids
5. Lovers to the grave
6. Panic in the streets
7. Beads of ebony
8. Flirting with suicide
9. Children of the earth
10. Thirty pieces of silver
11. Flirting with suicide (live)
12. Panic in the streets (live)

As far as output during the era of the NWOBHM goes, that's it for Praying Mantis. They almost achieved glory in 1980, when they intended to cover Russ Ballard's “I surrender”, but unfortunately Rainbow had the same idea, and with their clout and muscle Blackmore's gang were able to have their way, releasing the single which charted and made them even more of a household name than they already were. Mantis were left to lick their wounds, and dream of what might have been. Although they did release an EP - under, for some reason, the name Stratus! - in 1984 entitled Throwing Shapes, they broke up soon after and only reformed in 1990 on the back of renewed interest in an anniversary album of NWOBHM artistes, and their constant and loyal following they had built up in, of all places, Japan. This led to the release of what was technically then their second album.

Predator in Disguise - Praying Mantis - 1991 (Under One Flag)


Information from hereon in is hard to get and sketchy when it is available, even from the Mantis's own website, but it would appear that Dennis Stratton, best known before this for his guitar work on Maiden's debut self-titled album, came back to the band, having been with them before they recorded the debut but left prior to that happening. There's a mention also of one Steve Carroll having left, but I can't see where he fits in. Wikipedia can only take you so far...

Anyway, this is as I say their second album, and the sound is a lot different to the debut, with more of an emphasis on keys and less on the powerful and evocative guitar solos of Tino Troy. In many ways, Praying Mantis seem to be moving even closer to the AOR likes of Asia and Yes, and away from other, “harder” NWOBHM bands like Raven, Fist and Iron Maiden.

The album kicks off with “Can't see the angels”, which is really quite Americanised, more in the vein of bands like Journey and REO, but a good track, well written and very tightly played. It certainly carries on their fascination with American forms, and it's very commercial. The hilariously embarrassing “She's hot” is pure Kiss, possibly picked up during Stratton's time supporting them on tour with Iron Maiden. You can hear the difference his vocals make on this album. I preferred Troy's, personally - Stratton just sounds too West Coast, even though he is English.

“Can't wait forever” lifts the album in the same way “Lovers to the grave” did on the debut: a powerful, crunching, emotional puncher that just stands apart from the rest of the album, so far. I am amazed that “This time girl” didn't break them worldwide, as it's a fantastic slice of stadium rock, totally airplay-worthy, the guys channeling Journey at their most radio-friendly. I wonder, in fact, if the idea was to target America, as the sleeve does feature Lady Liberty herself? Guess it didn't work, but hey, the Japanese loved them!

“Time slipping away” is a faster rocker, more metal than previous tracks, but I still would put Praying Mantis firmly in the AOR/soft rock side of things. Okay, they don't have any annoyingly sugary ballads (yet!), but their music does seem like it would appeal more to fans of Styx, Journey, Asia or Boston than Metallica, Maiden or Motorhead. The overuse of keyboards probably contributes a lot to this, but it's no criticism of them: there were some very dodgy bands came out of the NWOBHM, and it's clear that Tino Troy can still rip off a hell of a guitar solo, as he does here. And what was that I said about ballads? Here comes one now, though in fairness “Listen to what your heart says” retains the soul of a rock song - no digital piano or saxophone solos here, and not a choir in sight. Sounds a little Gary Moore, to me, specially the solo. No higher praise...

The AOR style continues for “Still want you”, with some really good keyboard arpeggios, then “The horn” is the closest Praying Mantis come to out-and-out heavy metal; an instrumental, very reminscent of Iron Maiden indeed, leading into “Battle royale”, an odd title for what turns out to be a power ballad, and they manage to squeeze a lot into a song that runs for less than four minutes. Another great guitar solo, and why was this song not on the radio, twenty-four hours a day?

Penultimate track “Only you” is a rollicking rocker which puts me in mind of Bon Jovi circa Keep the Faith (sorry for all the comparisons, but Mantis's music does invite them), and the album closes on “Borderline”, probably one of the weaker tracks unfortunately, with the vocals fuzzy and down in the mix, don't ask me why. An album that started so well ends as a bit of a damp squib.

TRACK LISTING

1. Can't see the angels
2. She's hot
3. Can't wait forever
4. This time girl
5. Time slipping away
6. Listen to what your heart says
7. Still want you
8. The horn
9. Battle royale
10. Only you
11. Borderline

I don't know if Praying Mantis ever lost that very American feel to their music. If they didn't, I'm sure it was no detriment to them, as the Japanese love that kind of American rock. So hopefully they're doing okay, and as their latest album came out in 2015 they are obviously still alive and kicking. As our first peek into the often dark and shady world of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, they're certainly not the heaviest nor the roughest, but as Rik Mayall once gleefully stated, “They could bash out a tune or two!”

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Next up, it's the band that had the most “deaths” and “rebirths” of any in the NWOBHM, perhaps appropriately, given its supernatural name. Formed in 1977 under the name Lucifer, the band went through some lineup changes, eventually ending up with founder members Kevin Heybourne (guitar and vocals) and Rob Downing (guitar), joined by Dave Hogg (drums) and Kevin Riddles (bass). They also changed their name to Angel Witch, under which name they recorded a single, their first, and this was included on the metal compilation album of the day, Metal for Muthas. The single, “Baphomet”, brought them some success and a recording deal with EMI, but this quickly soured and the label dropped them on foot of extremely disappointing chart performance (their single “Sweet danger” lasted just one solitary week in the charts).

In 1980 they were signed to Bronze records, and released their debut self-titled album, which was well-received and critically acclaimed. But internal problems within Angel Witch surfaced, and the band quickly fell apart, leading to the breakup and the first “death”. It wasn't till 1982 that they got back together again, although the lineup had changed considerably by now: Riddles and Hogg were gone, replaced by Jerry Cunningham and Ricky Bruce, Rob Downing having left prior even to the recording of the debut album. However the band did not gell and nothing happened on the recording front, leaving Angel Witch to suffer their second “death”, and the following year, their second “rebirth”.

With a lineup now consisting of Peter Gordellier (bass), Dave Tattum (vocals), and with Dave Hogg back behind the drumkit, Kevin Heybourne led the third incarnation of the band, who then recorded their second album, 1985's Screamin' and Bleedin', but once again the lineup failed and Hogg was again fired, replaced by Spencer Hollman, and in 1986 they released what was a much more melodic and AOR-styled album, Frontal Assault. After the album was recorded, though, Tattum was sacked and Angel Witch performed as a trio, until the mid-nineties, when Heybourne decided to try to make it in the States.

None of the other band members were willing or able to uproot themselves and make the trip, so Heybourne went on his own and recruited new musicians to form a new Angel Witch, and brought about the third death and third rebirth of the band. In 1998 they released the appropriately titled Resurrection, but soon after Heybourne was arrested on issues of immigration violation in the US and deported, which brought about the fourth death of the band.

Back in the UK in 2000, Kevin Heybourne assembled yet another lineup, giving the band their fourth (and to date, final) rebirth. They don't seem to have an official website, but their MySpace page makes a reference to a Japan tour of 2009, so it's assumed they're still around, in one form or another.

So what about their body of work? Well, where else would we start but with the debut album?

Angel Witch - Angel Witch - 1980 (Bronze)


Now this is more the kind of thing you expect from a band around that era! Fast, heavy and hard, with squealing guitars, somewhat hesitant it has to be said vocals, sort of amateur sounding, all of which describe the opening and title track. Not a keyboard in sight. Of course, the lack of keys does make the sound seem a little less polished, but it's a good opener. Not great, but good. The song features some sort of shouted group vocals, which no doubt were taken up by audiences when the band played live, and the track fades out on a pretty good guitar solo, to bring in “Atlantis”, another fast headshaker, the vocals on this a little clearer and better defined. Kind of punk elements to this one - fast, furious, powerful, but with some good backing vocals.

Founder and guitarist/vocalist Kevin Heybourne takes songwriting duties for every song on this album, which is quite a feat, and none of them are epics. “White witch”, up next, is one of only two tracks just under five minutes, and one of five that are over four minutes. It's a bit of a cruncher, which speeds up and slows down as it goes on, a good rocker, solid. Shades of Iron Maiden in there. The rocking continues with “Confused”, but I have to admit, I'm not seeing much in the way of variation on this album, so far. I guess that's acceptable and understandable on a debut, but I would like to hear something different: we're now four tracks in, and most have sounded to me very similar. There's no doubting Heybourne's guitar prowess, though perhaps his songwriting skill needed to be honed a little at this early stage?

“Sorceress” starts things off in a slightly different way, with a spacy Iron Maiden intro to a Black Sabbath-inspired cruncher - you can almost hear the doomy church bells tolling in the distance. But at least it's a step away from the heads-down rockers they've presented so far. To their artistic credit, it becomes something of a Southern Rock-fest towards the end, finishing well. It's followed by another slowburner, “Gorgon”, which suddenly explodes into guitar mayhem! Probably one of the best tracks on the album, so far.

More Maidenesque rocking in “Sweet danger” - this was the single that EMI hated so much, that fell out of the charts after one week. It's not hard to see why: it really hasn't got anything special or unique going for it; good guitar solo, but even on their debut Iron Maiden were already doing this so much better. “Free man” starts off much more promisingly, with again a very Maiden-like guitar line, and reveals itself in fact as their first ballad. Doesn't stop Heybourne from piling on the heavy guitar, though!

Back to the hard rockin' for penultimate track, “Angel of death”, which sadly promises more than it delivers, but that's more than made up for with the closer, the sublime “Devil's tower”, with its lovely slide guitar intro which then punches you in the face and rocks all over the place. It's an instrumental, nothing more or less than a showcase for the considerable guitar talent of Mr. Heybourne, and a really cool way to close the album.

TRACK LISTING

1. Angel Witch
2. Atlantis
3. White witch
4. Confused
5. Sorceress
6. Gorgon
7. Sweet danger
8. Free man
9. Angel of death
10. Devil's tower

As detailed above, Angel Witch went through two “deaths” and two “rebirths” after this album, resulting along the way in their second release, “Screamin' & bleedin'”, however it's their third effort I want to concentrate on, as it is noted for being far more melodic and AOR than the previous two. To be perfectly honest, I wasn't that impressed with the debut (haven't listened to the second one), and wonder how this band figured so prominently in the NWOBHM movement, so perhaps their third album will shed some light on this, show me something that has heretofore been obscured about Angel Witch.

Frontal Assault - Angel Witch - 1986 (Killerwatt)


With a title like that, you should expect a hard and heavy, loud and fast, no-compromises metal album. Is that what we get? Let's see. Certainly the opener, and title track, is a heavy guitar-driven rocker, and the addition of David Tattum on vocals has given the band more of a voice: he seems, to be fair, a much better singer than Heybourne (maybe that's why he was fired after this album!). The rocking continues on “Dream world”, one of only three tracks on the album not penned exclusively by Heybourne. I can see the reason why this is considered more commercial, and more melodic than the debut: the songs are much more fleshed out, the playing tighter and with Tattum on vocals, Heybourne can concentrate on spitting out those solos he's become known for.

The music may have more melody, but there's no compromising on the heavy side of things! Angel Witch know how to rock, and rock they do - this is no Journey album! “Rendezvous with the blade” is another hard rocker, galloping along to meet “Religion (born again)”, borrowing from the Dio songbook for a real slow-paced cruncher, the vocals on this seeming somehow distant, echoey, as if Tattum is singing in a tunnel. Weird. Speeds up near the end as it gets going with a good guitar solo; perhaps should have happened sooner in the song?

“Straight from Hell” opens with what sounds like keyboards, though none are credited on the album, a slow, atmospheric beginning which soon smashes into another hard rocker. Disappointing, in a way. More of the same, when it looked like they were trying something different. “She don't lie” is a little more towards the AOR end of the spectrum, while “Take to the wing” is another unremarkable rocker, but “Something wrong” opens on lovely piano (there have to be keyboards on this album, guess they're just not credited) and becomes a semi-ballad, with guitar crashing in, in a way I wish they didn't always feel they have to do: sometimes piano with just a little acoustic guitar can work wonders. This kind of loses its way halfway in though. Pity.

Closer “Underpants” - sorry, “Undergods”! - is no surprise, more of the same, which isn't bad but isn't original either. I see a certain progression in melody here, but Frontal Assault is not that hugely different to Angel Witch, and there have been six years in between the albums, not to mention all the lineup changes. I would have expected a much more polished band at this stage, with a clear idea as to which direction they are heading in. I don't get that from this album, and maybe that's why Angel Witch went through so many incarnations.

TRACK LISTING

1. Frontal assault
2. Dream world
3. Rendezvous with the blade
4. Religion (born again)
5. Straight from Hell
6. She don't lie
7. Take to the wing
8. Something wrong
9. Undergods

I would not have placed Angel Witch at the top of the NWOBHM tree, but I guess they had some sort of appeal. Personally, I found their basic brand of heavy metal very derivative, as I have mentioned in the reviews, and frankly, a band that can't keep its lineup together for more than a year at a time has some major problems! The fact that Heybourne emigrated to the US to try to bring the music of Angel Witch to the Land of the Free must have meant that he knew he was getting, and would get, nowhere here on this side of the pond. I don't know what the “American” Angel Witch were like, but if they were anything like the UK version, then I really feel there would have been, at that time, hundreds of metal bands over there doing this far better than this somewhat ill-fated bunch of Brits.



The last outfit I want to look at in this first part of the series is a band you probably have never heard of. They released no albums, had no hits and essentially faded away as the NWOBHM gained momentum, why is never clear. Information on Trespass is hard to find, not least due to the common use of the word, and of course the Genesis album of the same name, but it seems that they first recorded in 1979, and were broken up shortly after 1982. During that time they put out two singles, had two of their songs included on the rated metal compilation album Metal for Muthas, Volume 2 - which is where I heard their music, and never again - but completely failed to make it. On the strength of their music I fail to see why, though I've outlined some possible reasons below, and I believe it's one of the great injustices of the NWOBHM time that a band like Angel Witch, above, who to me were vastly inferior in every way to Trespass, went on to record albums and gain something of a following, while Trespass faded into the mists of metal history.

Formed in 1979 by Mark and Paul Sutcliffe (Mark played guitar and sang, his brother drummed), with Dave Crawte on guitar and Richard Penny on bass, Trespass were never a viable band, all holding down day jobs. They never got any of the plum support gigs other bands did, and so were never exposed to a wider audience, and though they were promised an album deal it seems to have fallen through, though they did record a session for Tommy Vance's Friday Rock radio show, which saw them included on another compilation album, Metal Explosion.

The two songs I heard from them were “One of these days”, which was their first single, and the vastly, vastly superior “Stormchild”, which seems to get ignored. Even when the compilation album NWOBHM Revisited was put together, the former track was included as Trespass's only contribution, why I don't know: perhaps on the basis of it being their first single and therefore their most recognisable song.

At any rate, unlike the other two bands reviewed above, there are sadly no albums from Trespass to study or comment on, and it's only thanks to YouTube that we have any material at all for this section from them, but I feel it such an injustice that Trespass did not make it that I wanted to make sure they were included in this article, so below are the two songs from them which I know, plus two others I have not heard up to now. You make up your own mind if they should have been more successful than they were.




And that's it for our first look at some of the bands from the movement that shook up heavy metal in about the same way punk did to rock music, but with, I think, more a lasting impression left behind. If it hadn't been for some of these bands, and many others like them - some of whom made it, some who did not - many of the bigger UK and indeed US bands may not today have existed, never mind been successful and famous. Metallica famously attribute much of their raison d'etre to a reaction to the new sound that was coming from England's shores in the 1980s, and no doubt they are not the only ones who owe a huge debt to the trailblazers of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal.

Next time, I'll be looking at Cloven Hoof, Raven and Venom, who coined and indeed created not only the term, but the idea and theme known today as Black Metal. Leave your crucifixes at home...

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