NWOBHM

Saviours: Three 7″ Singles

Recorded as demos this past April with Scott Ecklein, the four new songs and two covers aren’t just rough around the edges; they’re positively filthy, that barely-produced sound hearkening back to the glory days of tape-trading, the bare-bones mix enhancing the fierce performances. Simply put, as solid as they were before, Saviours has never sounded this great.

Adrien Begrand reviews three brand new, limited edition 7″ singles by Bay Area metal quartet Saviours.

Slough Feg: Ape Uprising!

We’ve seen a lot of goofy gimmicks in metal, and monkey metal has to be a first, but if there ever was a band that could convincingly serve up a concept album based on the blatantly Hestonian notion of apes conquering the world and wiping out mankind in the process, it’s Slough Feg.

Dragonslayer: Dragonslayer

A quick run down on Dragonslayer: this four piece English band was originally called ‘Heavy Thunder in its infancy, then in 1980 they changed their name to Slayer. In 1983 to stop any confusion with the American band named Slayer, who had just released their debut album Show No Mercy, they changed their name to Dragonslayer.

Superchrist: Defenders Of The Filth

This three-piece Chicago band’s music is like an intriguing mix of Motorhead and The Exploited. Their new ten-song CD has some absolutely KILLER tracks like “Stay Black,” “Take You Out” and “Still Drunk Enough” with very heavy riffs, great guitar solos and choking vocals.

High Spirits: 4 song demo 2009

This four track demo EP is pure 80’s metal. It sounds to me like the early output of Scotland’s Heavy Pettin’ fronted by a singer that sounds somewhat similar to Kevin Griffiths of the NWOBHM band Briar.

Tank: Their War Drags Ever On

Of all the original NWOBHM bands, few have been as sadly under-valued as London’s Tank. Formed by former Damned/Saints bassist Algy Ward in early 1980, Tank took the raw aggression of Algy’s former punk bands and applied it to a more metal setting.

Cauldron: Chained to the Nite

Having grown up on metal in Canada during the 1980s, the first thought that springs to mind upon hearing the debut album by Toronto trio Cauldron is, why in the hell couldn’t these guys have been around 24, 25 years ago?