Bands I love (in no particular order) #2 - Saxon

Saxon are one of the first bands I nearly always think of when someone utters the words 'heavy' and 'metal'. They're an archetype of the genre, from their music itself to the imagery and album covers.

And it was inevitable that I'd eventually stumble across them on my own musical journey; I discovered most of my favourite bands around the ages 13-16, i.e. the majority of my secondary school years. In my last post in the series, I talked about my love for the Canadian metal band Annihilator. I was 14 when I got into them. With Saxon I believe I was 15, and I can pinpoint it to that age because of the first ever Saxon album I picked up, which was released in 2007 - a 3 CD compilation titled The Very Best Of 1979-1988. Funnily enough however, I had actually heard a couple of Saxon tunes a year before I picked up that compilation because again, I can pinpoint to another compilation that featured 2 of their songs! I remember my mum coming home from the supermarket and giving me a various artists compilation from EMI called Guitar Anthems - and I know it was from a year before because I still have it, and it's from 2006! Anyhow, Guitar Anthems had 'Strong Arm of the Law' and 'Motorcycle Man' on it, 2 absolutely classic Saxon cuts. Clearly they didn't leave a big enough impression on me at the time because like I said, I didn't get my hands on any Saxon until the following year. Me and my mate used to lend each other the metal CDs we didn't own ourselves so we could rip them onto iTunes to listen to on our iPods, and he actually bought that Saxon compilation (The Very Best Of 1979-1988) before I did. I remember him lending it to me, and after putting it on my own iPod and giving it a listen, I was immediately hooked that I think I bought the exact same album myself just weeks later, so I had a copy of my own.

There was a lot for me to love with Saxon, so I quickly bought 1980's Wheels of Steel shortly after as well as receiving their newest album (at the time), 2007's The Inner Sanctum as a Christmas present that year. I've always considered them to be the poster boy of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. I'm not saying they were better than, say, Iron Maiden, but there's something about the no-nonsense, blue-collar style of metal they play that is the sound my mind thinks of when summarising the NWOBHM movement of the late '70s/early '80s. They didn't display the same technical prowess as Iron Maiden, they didn't have the doomy atmosphere of Angel Witch, and they certainly weren't as raw and extreme as Venom. What Saxon were, was honest. Those early records - Wheels of Steel, Strong Arm of the Law (both 1980) and Denim and Leather (1981) - were full of relatively straightforward guitar riffage and song structures, but were all the more memorable for it. Biff Byford has one of the most recognisable voices in heavy metal - nobody sounds like him. He's also a great lyricist in my opinion - Saxon wrote about all kinds of real-life stuff and historical events. 'Princess of the Night' is about a steam train he used to see as a kid, 'Dallas 1PM' is about the assassination of JFK and '747 (Strangers in the Night)' is about a plane in 1965 that had to detour elsewhere due to a power outage in New York. Meanwhile 'And the Bands Played On' is about the band's own performance at the Monsters of Rock festival in 1980 and 'Denim and Leather' is a tribute to their metalhead fanbase! Saxon were probably the first band to actually sing about and relish the fact they were a metal band. It's not an uncommon theme at all in metal nowadays. Also, Paul Quinn and Graham Oliver may not have been as flashy guitar duo as Glenn Tipton/KK Downing or Dave Murray/Adrian Smith, but they were solidly reliable and still bought the riffs. Of course, Saxon would soon experiment for a few years musically in the '80s, mostly due to greedy record labels trying to cash-in on their popularity and get them to break America (which failed).

Either way, I loved their earlier works and when I got hold of 2007's The Inner Sanctum, it opened up another new realm of the band to me. Other than a couple of covers albums, absolutely every studio record they've made since Doug Scarratt replaced Graham Oliver in the mid-'90s has been killer (97's Unleash the Beast onwards). The Inner Sanctum though, was the first of their modern albums I heard, and I was blown away by the added level of heaviness within the riffs, the production and the way they'd gotten more technical as musicians over time whilst still retaining the critical ingredients of their vintage years that made them sound like Saxon in the first place. In short, their 'newer' albums are pure fucking metal, and most bands can still learn a thing or 2 from them. For me, they're one of the most consistent metal bands of all time - as of 2025 they have a whopping 24 studio albums under their belt, and only 2 of them are duds for me (1986's Rock the Nations and 1988's Destiny)... the rest are mostly awesome, great, good, or just 'pretty good'. But mostly awesome and great! Biff never let his ego take over - he knows what Saxon are, what the fans want, and if the band aren't on the road, then they're probably in the studio writing the next record. There's no bullshit waiting around years and years for a new studio album unlike some bands (*cough* Metallica! *cough*), and that is always a good thing in my books. Every time they release a new studio record, I buy it immediately without hesitation because I know it's gonna be a true heavy metal platter in every sense of the word.

It took me a few years to accumulate their catalogue. It's a big discography and since I was still a teenager with a paper-round and limited cash when I got into Saxon, I was trying to buy as many different albums from as many different bands as I could! I think by the time I finished college in 2010 I probably had most of their studio albums (and I remember getting 2009's Into the Labyrinth on release - it was the first Saxon album I bought as a new release, since I was gifted Inner Sanctum a couple of years prior). And I definitely had all their main albums by 2011 when Call to Arms dropped and I saw them live on that tour. As for some of the live albums such as the Eagle Has Landed series and misc. CDs like the Heavy Metal Thunder compilation, these were purchased and here and there over the years. I have a decent number of their live albums in my collection now (including all 4 Eagle Has Landed releases), plus a couple of collectors discs too.

As with the Annihilator piece I wrote, here's a discography overview. For detailed reviews, check the Saxon page.

• SAXON (1979): The first ever NWOBHM album? Quite possibly. Not as heavy as what was to come, and the songs are actually quite diverse musically. 'Big Teaser' is almost a pop-rocker! And 'Rainbow Theme'/'Frozen Rainbow' are kinda proggy in some ways. That said, 'Stallions of the Highway' and 'Backs to the Wall' certainly hint at what was to come. Either way, all the songs are still enjoyable in their own right, and this is a promising start for a band that were still finding their feet in 1979. - 7.7/10
• WHEELS OF STEEL (1980): Classic heavy metal, there's not much else to say! But I'll try. The songs range from speedy metal such as 'Motorcycle Man', 'Freeway Mad' and 'Machine Gun', to fist-pumping anthems like 'Stand Up and Be Counted' and the title track, and even shimmers of catchy hard rock with 'Suzie Hold On'. Extremely listenable, good-time metal that will appeal to both serious metalheads and casual listeners of the genre alike! - 9.1/10
• STRONG ARM OF THE LAW (1980): Musically similar to Wheels of Steel, but if it ain't broke don't fix it. Superior production gives these tracks more punch though, especially with the thundering, erm, 'Heavy Metal Thunder'! But also 'To Hell and Back Again', '20,000 Ft' and 'Taking Your Chances'. Not to mention the anthemic title track and the towering 'Dallas 1PM'. Another staple of the NWOBHM. - 9.1/10
• DENIM AND LEATHER (1981): The last of the golden-era trilogy. Still more-or-less the same musically meaning the songwriting hasn't dipped. More timeless metal classics to be had with the title track, 'Midnight Rider', 'And the Bands Played On', 'Princess of the Night' and 'Never Surrender'. Awesome deep cuts too, with 'Rough and Ready', 'Out of Control' and 'Fire in the Sky' to name a few. - 9/10
• THE EAGLE HAS LANDED - LIVE (1982, live album): For many, one of the greatest live heavy metal albums of all time. Not a personal favourite of mine as I feel the tracklisting was always disappointingly short, but there's no denying the power of these songs in the live perspective. Still a classic live album, just a tad overrated in my eyes! - 8.2/10
• POWER & THE GLORY (1983): Some experimentation to be had now; although 'Nightmare' is a radio-friendly ballad, it's still a great song. Also, 'Midas Touch' dabbles with lots of melody, but again it works. On the other hand, the title track and 'Warrior' are 2 of the heaviest and greatest songs from their '80s output, 'Redline' is an insanely catchy slice of boogie metal and 'The Eagle Has Landed' is a lengthy, atmospheric epic that showcases the band's development as musicians. Jeff Glixman's production is excellent, and Nigel Glockler is one hell of a drummer. Underrated. - 8.8/10 
• CRUSADER (1984): A blatantly obvious attempt at achieving chart success, Crusader is much glossier and radio-friendly than anything before. The band weren't into it either. Silly cock rockers like 'Bad Boys (Like to Rock 'n' Roll)' and 'Rock City' don't do it any favours, nor does the sappy ballad 'Do It All For You'. Fortunately the song 'Crusader' is an epic history lesson and a fan favourite for a reason, while the cover of Sweet's 'Set Me Free' has been handled very well. I've always loved 'Sailing to America' too. A mixed bag, but mostly okay overall. - 6.3/10
• INNOCENCE IS NO EXCUSE (1985): Still shiny and melodic, but this time it's been handled much more maturely than Crusader. Not always good sadly (I'm looking at you 'Back on the Streets'!), but plenty of underrated gems can still be found here. 'Rockin' Again' and 'Broken Heroes' are spectacular, 'Call of the Wild' and 'Devil Rides Out' get me pumped up and even the poppy single 'Rock 'n' Roll Gypsy' is a cracker. Not quite a classic, but not far off. - 7.8/10
• ROCK THE NATIONS (1986): The sound of a band slowly deteriorating. While the production has some balls once again, the album is directionless. Even Elton John couldn't save 'Party 'til You Puke' and all it's stupidity! Others like 'We Came Here to Rock', 'Northern Lady' and 'Waiting for the Night' continue with the radio metal/rock road, and bring this record down. On the plus side, 'Battle Cry' is a tremendous slab of true heavy metal while the title track is a strong anthem. - 4/10
• DESTINY (1988): They really hit rock bottom on this one! When the best song is a cover of Christopher Cross' 'Ride Like a Wind' (which is admittedly great), you know something's gone horribly wrong somewhere. As it happens, I know exactly where they went wrong. Take all the glossy sheen of Crusader, times it by 1000 and drench the songs in obnoxious Europe-style 'Final Countdown' keyboards, and you get an album from a band suffering a serious identity crisis. - 2.2/10
• SOLID BALL OF ROCK (1991): A huge improvement over Destiny, but not quite a return to form either. They still hadn't quite gotten the commercial bug out their systems yet due to lightweight tracks like 'Requiem (We Will Remember)' and 'Ain't Gonna Take It', but they do at least shove some killer speed metal down your throat with 'Baptism of Fire' and 'Altar of the Gods'. Also worthy are 'Solid Ball of Rock' and the surprisingly solid ballad 'Overture in B-Minor/Refugee'. - 6.7/10
• FOREVER FREE (1992): A much more honest, meat n' potatoes effort. The bluesy working-class ballad 'Iron Wheels' is spectacular, the title track is a kick-ass biker anthem, 'Hole in the Sky' rocks me and 'Nighthunter' is absolutely on the speed metal mark. It's not one of their best due to some filler, but this is largely a good'un. - 7.7/10
• DOGS OF WAR (1995): This album is sadly not as metallic as the awesome cover art would suggest. Not a mainstream-sounding record in the same sense as Destiny or Rock the Nations, but weird songs like the sleazy 'Walking Through Tokyo', boogie rocker 'Big Twin Rolling (Coming Home)' and the, erm, alternative-influenced (??) 'Don't Worry' leave me feeling confused! Thankfully others such as 'Dogs of War', 'Burning Wheels' and 'Demolition Alley' are damn solid - in fact, nothing here is particularly 'bad' as such, it's just a strange album by Saxon's standards. - 6.9/10
• THE EAGLE HAS LANDED - PART II (1995, live album): A very strong 2-CD live platter. The songs from Dogs of War and Solid Ball of Rock are far more powerful on stage, plus the addition of the usual classics make this a highly enjoyable listen. - 8.5/10
• UNLEASH THE BEAST (1997): With Graham Oliver gone and Doug Scarratt replacing him, Unleash the Beast marks the beginning of a new era for Saxon. And what a way to kick it off! Amazing new Euro power metal tones mixed in with classic Saxon, and a killer roster of songs like 'Unleash the Beast', 'Terminal Velocity', 'Circle of Light', 'Ministry of Fools', 'Cut Out the Disease' and 'The Thin Red Line' equals the best album since Power & the Glory. - 8.8/10
• METALHEAD (1999): Takes the same formula of Unleash the Beast, but cranks up the mood and atmosphere to create possibly the darkest, heaviest Saxon record ever. All killer, no filler, but my favourites are the crushing title track, the sci-fi inspired 'Are We Travellers in Time', the blistering 'Conquistador' and 'All Guns Blazing' as well as the epic finale 'Sea of Life'. - 8.9/10
• DIAMONDS AND NUGGETS (2000, compilation): An interesting compilation of early-career recordings, plus live cuts and b-sides. Exactly how a rarities a compilation should be handled. Serious fans and collectors should totally check this out. - 8/10
• KILLING GROUND (2001): More flavours of metal to digest here, and lots of standouts. 'Killing Ground' is metal as fuck, 'Dragons Lair' feels like old-school power metal (so it's awesome by default), 'You Don't Know What You've Got' is a heavy blues romp, 'Running for the Border' is full of groove and their rendition of King Crimson's 'Court of the Crimson King' might just be my favourite cover they ever did. Really though, practically the whole record is great. - 8.5/10
• HEAVY METAL THUNDER (2002): An album of re-recorded classics. Not essential, but the beefier modern production does make them worth hearing. A handful of live bonus tracks makes this a fun addition to the catalogue. - 7/10
• LIONHEART (2004): Can you imagine the impact if they'd made this album back in the early 80s? This is an instant classic - heavy metal personified in every shape and form. Every song is a well-crafted metallic beast, from the masterful title track, to the delightfully old-school 'English Man 'O' War' and the pummelling 'Man and Machine'. Hell, 'Witchfinder General' might just be their best song ever in my opinion. Probably the best from the 'modern' era. - 9.1/10
• THE EAGLE HAS LANDED - PART III (2006, live album): The 3rd addition is even better still! 2 more discs full of both deep cuts from albums such as Unleash the Beast, Metalhead and Killing Ground as well as Lionheart numbers and '80s classics. Add to this the energetic performances and you have almost everything you could ask for out of a live album. - 8.7/10
• THE INNER SANCTUM (2007): My first taste of modern Saxon, and another tip-top addition to their catalogue. 'Bangers like the melodic metal of 'State of Grace', epic 8-minute 'Atila the Hun', amazing ballad 'Red Star Falling' (about the fall of the Soviet Union) and the fun stadium rocker 'I've Got to Rock (To Stay Alive)' are just a small taster of what this album has to offer. One of my personal favourites due to it being the album that made me go out and buy the rest of their stuff. - 8.9/10
• INTO THE LABYRINTH (2009): A tad weaker than the last bunch, but still very good. Lots of variation within the tracklisting makes it interesting, but also inconsistent at times. 'Valley of the Kings', 'Demon Sweeney Todd', 'Hellcat', 'Slow Lane Blues' and 'Battalions of Steel' make the album well worth the price of admission, plus the acoustic take on Killing Ground's 'Coming Home' (the so-called 'Bottleneck Version') is an interesting experiment. - 7.9/10
• CALL TO ARMS (2011): An intentionally 'vintage' production gives Call to Arms it's own character among the band's later releases. The album maybe isn't as heavy as the last few, but is certainly more retro - and that's cool! Mostly great songs such as 'Hammer of the Gods', 'Back in 79', 'Ballad of the Working Man' and the First World War-inspired 'Call to Arms'. Also of note is the Deep Purple-sounding 'When Doomsday Comes (Hybrid Theory)' - Don Airey plays keyboards on it, so that explains things! - 8.2/10
• SACRIFICE (2013): Maybe their heaviest since Metalhead, and also the first of many to be produced by the much in-demand Andy Sneap. The album sounds amazing, and the songs kick-ass, particularly 'Sacrifice', 'Warriors of the Road', 'Guardians of the Tomb' and 'Wheels of Terror'. Some nice variation too however, thanks to the almost folk-tinged 'Made in Belfast' and also 'Standing in a Queue', which sounds like '80s Saxon to me. - 8.5/10
• BATTERING RAM (2015): Yet another winner! 'The Devil's Footprint' boasts one of the coolest and most badass riffs they ever laid down! But really the whole record is full of badass riffs, excellent Sneap production and is overall a fine continuation of the same sound they've nailed to a tee since Unleash the Beast. Stronger than Sacrifice in my opinion. - 8.7/10
• THUNDERBOLT (2018): Maybe a tad weaker than the last few, but hardly a setback. Still a whole host of standouts to choose from, including the powerful title track, the no-nonsense 'Sniper', the crushing 'Predator' (with guest vocals from Amon Amarth's Johan Hegg) and the fine tribute to Motorhead titled 'They Played Rock n' Roll'. Absolutely no reason to avoid this. - 8.1/10
• THE EAGLE HAS LANDED 40: LIVE (2019, live album): The best chapter yet in the Eagle Has Landed live series! 3 discs of live performances recorded between 2007 - 2018 and songs from almost every major era of the band. One my personal favourite live albums of the past few years from any band. - 9/10
• INSPIRATIONS (2021): A covers album is almost guaranteed to be inessential, and this is sadly the case here. That said, Inspirations is hardly unlistenable - it's just a fairly safe, pedestrian selection of '60s and '70s rock songs including 'Paperback Writer' (Beatles), 'Paint it Black' (the Stones), 'Immigrant Song' (Led Zep) etc. that you've heard covered a million times by other bands before. - 6/10
• CARPE DIEM (2022): One more molten slab of heavy metal in the arsenal. There's a very strong ballad with 'The Pilgrimage'. 'Dambusters' and 'Super Nova' are superb speed metal cuts, 'Black Is the Night' crushes, 'Age of Steam' is a fine piece of melodic metal while 'Carpe Diem' is a bangin' album opener. Picking this one up should be a no-brainer for 'ya. - 8.7/10
• MORE INSPIRATIONS (2023): Well, it's Inspirations part 2. More straightforward '60s and '70s rock covers including 'Substitute' (Who), 'Tales of Brave Ulysses (Cream), 'We've Gotta Get Out of This Place' (Animals) etc.. No better or worse than the first iteration of Inspirations. - 6/10
• HELL, FIRE AND DAMNATION (2024): Here we go again! The lads deliver another killer slab of true heavy metal. First album with Diamond Head's Brian Tatler on guitar after Paul Quinn's retirement. More fantastic songs in similar vein to any of their other albums of the past 25 or so years (excluding Inspirations of course). Favourites for me are the title track, 'Madam Guillotine', 'Supercharger', 'Fire and Steel', '1066' and 'There's Something in Roswell'. Awesome. - 8.5/10

A pretty massive discography with few fuck-ups if I say so myself. I'm not a fan of 1988's Destiny, but I'm considering giving it another spin and re-reviewing it sometime to see if I can be more positive about it. For every bad review of it I read online, I find another that praises it to no end - so it's an album that certainly has it's own fanbase. And although there's a small chunk of 'meh' albums here and there (Dogs of War, Solid Ball of Rock and the 2 covers albums), there's also a stupidly long list of fucking excellent metal albums too. In my detailed review of Metalhead I stated "Other bands might have a masterpiece in their discography, but I'll bet they haven't released as many good albums overall as Saxon.". I think I was pretty fair with that claim. Yeah, I don't think Saxon have any 10/10s, but the amount of truly great one's is hugely impressive. They're a bunch of blokes I can almost always count on to release something that I'll be listening to for months, even years on end, and will almost always be in my top albums of the year. They're just pros at what they do.

They're also pros on stage. I've seen them 5 times, and I'll be seeing them again in November this year. The first time was at Sonisphere festival in 2009 when I was 17, and I remember buying an Into the Labyrinth t-shirt from a merch stall that weekend. I wore it in college all the time - shame I can't find it anymore! Can't really pick a standout favourite performance, they've been great each time I've seen them.

What else have I got to look forward to from Saxon? Well, Biff said they'd already begun writing new songs for the next album in (hopefully) 2026. Yep! That sounds like Saxon! Hard at work writing and recording new music when not touring, i.e. giving the fans what they want. They're also releasing a new live album titled Hell, Fire and Damnation - Eagles Over Hellfest this month, and I'm actually a little hesitant to pre-order because it comes bundled with the Hell, Fire and Damnation album. If they were releasing the live album on it's own then I'd 100% be buying it, but I'm not sure how I feel about buying the latest studio album twice in just over a year! We'll see.

In the meantime, long live Saxon!

GRAVE DIGGER

Reviewed:
- Heavy Metal Breakdown (1984)
- Witch Hunter (1985)
- War Games (1986)
- The Reaper (1993)
- Symphony of Death (1993, EP)
- Heart of Darkness (1995)
- Tunes of War (1996)
- Knights of the Cross (1998)
- Excalibur (1999)

HEAVY METAL BREAKDOWN          1984          (BMG)
- Standouts: 'Headbanging Man', 'Heavy Metal Breakdown', 'Back from the War', 'Yesterday', 'Legion of the Lost', 'Tyrant', 'Heart Attack'
I'm a bit of a newcomer to Grave Digger, which is baffling because I'm sure if I'd heard pretty much any of their albums way back when I was a teenager, I'd have been an instant fan of them. It's not like they're unknown or forgotten either - these German metallers have been going at it since 1980, with their debut Heavy Metal Breakdown hitting the scene in '84. But yeah, I wasn't even aware of them until I saw them at Bloodstock festival in 2011 - and despite the fact I liked their set, I still didn't go anywhere near Grave Digger again until I bought 3 of their albums from the same eBay seller in 2024 (1996's Tunes of War, 2009's Ballads of a Hangman and 2010's The Clans Will Rise Again)! And even then, I only bought those albums because they came up as a recommended purchase based on my history! Anyway, I'm glad I made those purchases because I've been hooked on Grave Digger since. It took me until my 30s to actually own any of their albums, but whatever!! I guess some bands - even relatively well-known ones - can slip anyone by for years.

I'll say that in general this band do have a specific kind of sound that they've stuck to for many years. But I don't think they moulded that particular sound until the '90s (more about that with later albums in this post of course!), so Heavy Metal Breakdown isn't necessarily the most typically Grave Digger-sounding record if that makes any sense. Don't expect a specific conceptual historical theme throughout the lyrics, and don't expect a strong power metal influence either. Many bands hadn't found their niche with their debut - just look at Judas Priest as a prime example of this. But hey, that doesn't mean you should skimp on HMB! If you look traditional heavy metal and '80s speed metal, you're mostly likely gonna really dig this. I do! Aye, musically this CD is very much an old-school trad/speed metal affair, meaning it's automatically right up my street even if I think this band got better in the '90s. The songs probably weren't breaking new ground within the world of heavy metal in 1984 what with thrash metal taking off at practically this exact point in history, but that doesn't mean it can't still be great fun - which it is.

I feel like I need to talk about vocalist Chris Boltendahl first however. Someone at some point on my favourite YouTube channel Sea of Tranquility described his voice as a cross between Udo Dirkschneider of Accept and Lemmy of Motorhead but with his own added flair. I personally think that's an excellent description - Chris really does have a weirdly unique voice in that he has that high raspy style of Udo and the gruffness of Lemmy, yet still manages to be instantly recognisable whenever he opens his mouth. To be honest, I think Chris is the sort of vocalist that will turn some listeners off this band. If you don't like his vocals from day 1, you're probably gonna struggle with this entire catalogue. He's not really a good singer, but he also makes Grave Digger, well, Grave Digger. I love his vocals, but I became an instant fan of this band after I bought those 3 CDs last year.

Back to the album though, opener 'Headbanging Man' is a pure denin n' leather, balls to the wall '80s speed metal number through-and-through. It's kinda like a poster boy track for this style, a bit like Saxon's 'Heavy Metal Thunder' or Anthrax's 'Metal Thrashing Mad' ('cos that first Anthrax record was SPEED metal, not THRASH metal!). Big riffs, a fast tempo - but not blazingly quick either. 'Headbanging Man' rules, end of. The title track ironically contains no musical breakdowns (were they even yet a thing in metal in 1984?!), but is a jolly good time all the same. The chorus is surprisingly anthemic, and if it wasn't for Chris' vocals, it could easily pass for an Accept number. Great stuff. 'Back from the War' tries to be a bit moodier with it's monk-like chants and slow, doomy intro. It comes off as comedic more than anything, but in the way that only '80s heavy metal can pull off. And for that reason it's cool! 'Yesterday' is an attempt at doing a ballad I suppose, and again, I like it! It's a bit goofy and difficult to take seriously, but the added keyboards have been implemented rather well alongside Chris' vocal arrangements, which are very memorable. 'We Wanna Rock You' probably is as stupid as you'd expect to be lyrically, but musically it's thankfully still 100% heavy metal, and fits in comfortably alongside everything else on the album. Also, 'Legion of the Lost' is one of the best tracks here. It starts off with a ballad-like acoustic melody, but soon transitions into one of the heaviest numbers on the record. Maybe this track is a sign of what was to come years down the line? 'Tyant' and 'Heart Attack' keep the classic speed metal ball rolling until the end. The production is raw, but that's part of it's charm. And it's certainly not murky or seriously flawed in any way to me.

I really don't have a lot of serious problems with Heavy Metal Breakdown. Even the Rolling Stones cover, '2000 Lightyears from Home' manages to fit quite well here, mostly because it's played in the same style as everything else. However, I wouldn't be surprised if Grave Digger have fans that consider it inferior to many of their later albums from the '90s onward because like I said in the beginning of this review, they really found their feet and became better musicians for it. So HMB feels somewhat basic and primitive by comparison - but I've been a massive fan of  '80s heavy/speed metal with raw production and cheesy lyrics for well over half my life now, so I still largely enjoy this to the same extent as many of their later albums. You can't expect 'em to come out with a record like 2003's Rheingold from the get-go!! Either way, settling on an overall score was a tad tricky. I was thinking maybe an 8.4 originally, but I looked at some of my other review scores of other albums of similar-ish style and had a little rethink. For example, I don't think HMB is any better than Blind Guardian's Battalions of Fear (which I gave an 8.2), and I certainly don't think it's better than, say, Armoured Saint's March of the Saint or Saxon's Power & the Glory. And let's not forget the fact I think Grave Digger would pump out stronger albums in the future. Although Heavy Metal Breakdown might not be one of the GOATs of it's subgenre, it's a bloody good time if you like your metal as pure and honest as this.
Adam's rating: 8.2/10


WITCH HUNTER          1985         (Noise)
- Standouts: 'Witch Hunter', 'Night Drifter', 'Love Is a Game', 'Get Away'
Not hugely different to what Heavy Metal Breakdown had to offer, but there's still some minor differences to speak of. Well, it starts off with 3 fun speed metal numbers, all of which could've sat quite comfortably on the debut - 'Witch Hunter', 'Night Drifter' and 'Get Ready for Power'. Each of these tracks have that irresistible '80s speed metal charm (although 'Get Ready for Power' also has an anthemic quality); New Wave of British Heavy Metal-style riffage combined with Chris Boltendahl's often hilariously over-the-top Germanic vocal style. There's also a ballad here too, 'Love Is a Game' - and like 'Yesterday' from the predecessor, it's really not bad at all! Goofy, sure. Cheesy, yes. But bad? No! I won't necessarily say I like it more than 'Yesterday', but I can get behind it either way. 'Get Away' - again, another solid speed metaller in the classic Grave Digger style. Nothing special, but good

'Fight for Freedom' tries to be a little more dramatic, but comes off as a bit silly overall. Yet I still like it! 'Friends of Mine' is one of the slower tracks on this album, but is all the heavier for it. It incorporates a big backing vocal segment that almost hints at future Grave Digger albums. 'Here I Stand' is a decent enough way to conclude the record. I guess I could maybe do without the cover of Alice Cooper's 'School's Out', but it doesn't really bother me either. Somewhat enjoyable, but not integral to the album. I really think depending on what sort of metal you started off with, old-school metal like this will either be cool as fuck for some, or just too dumb and primitive for others. If the bands that got you into metal were Meshuggah or Gojira, then bands like Venom and Grave Digger (1980s Grave Digger at least) probably aren't gonna cut the mustard for 'ya. But if like me you did start your metal journey with the oldies, you'll likely have a good time with Witch Hunter. 

Me personally, I don't enjoy it quite as much as Heavy Metal Breakdown - the songs aren't really as memorable here to me, and I can't really determine why this is! The production, although a teensy-weensy bit cleaner, is still raw and brash (which is a good thing) - and there's even some tiny shimmers of the power metal style they'd embrace later on in their career seeping into the music at times. But I just don't find myself turning to this album as often as the debut! The songs - while good - just aren't great I guess.  On the plus side, I do still like every track here (even the Alice cover is okay), and I can happily listen to Witch Hunter from start to finish to get my '80s metal fix. A solid follow-up with enough differences to give it a character of it's own after the debut, but not one of their best.
Adam's rating: 7.4/10


WAR GAMES          1986          (HR Records)
- Standouts: 'Keep On Rockin'', 'Fire In Your Eyes', Paradise', '(Enola Gay) Drop the Bomb'
Hmm. Perhaps some commercial sheen is finding it's way into the music now, but thankfully the album is usually still heavier than some of the song titles would suggest. Saying that, 'Let Your Heads Roll' and 'Fallout' sound like they could be heavy speed metallers on paper, but they really aren't! They're still heavy, sure, but the singalong choruses are totally reminiscent of '80s Accept, and in general they have very anthemic feels about them. I kinda like 'em actually. 'Love Is Breaking My Heart' however, I can give this one a pass. Even though both previous albums had a ballad on them, this one is much sappier by comparison, with pianos leading the melody and Chris Boltendahl sounding hilariously out of tune with the music. I love the guy, but he doesn't have the pipes for power balladry!! Maybe Steve Perry could do it justice, but certainly not Chris! Most of this album just feels like a continuation of Witch Hunter though, just with more melody at times. 'Keep On Rockin'' is a speed metal opener with a blazing guitar solo in true vintage Grave Digger fashion. You'd be forgiven for expecting it to sound like an arena rocker with that title and lyrics, but it's not. 'Heaven Can Wait' is a chunky mid-tempo number - big power chords and another Accept-like chorus. Good stuff. 'Fire in Your Eyes' and 'Paradise' are strong slices of heavy metal goodness, with Chris singing in that gargling high range he often likes to do. In fact, I can hear some power metal in this number, even if early Grave Digger aren't really associated with the genre just yet. And the speedy '(Enola Gay) Drop the Bomb' sounds like it's come directly from Heavy Metal Breakdown, so that's cool. 

Again, like Witch Hunter, War Games is far from one of my favourite Grave Digger albums. Like I said, this album feels like Witch Hunter, just with some added melodic flair (particularly with some of these tracks' choruses). It's still heavy for the most part, just catchier overall - 'Playin' Fools' is a prime example of this. I like this disc - not as much as either predecessor (especially the cool debut), but the only track that really rubs me the wrong way would be 'Love Is Breaking My Heart'. Otherwise I can quite happily sit through the rest of this album and enjoy it. No outstanding songs, but plenty of good ones still.

What happened after was weird though; the band would release their next album, Stronger Than Ever, under the name 'Digger' - presumably because it sounds less metallic than 'Grave Digger'! Now, I don't own a copy of this album, but I've listened to a few of it's songs online. It goes one step further than War Games and takes the music down a fully-fledged radio-friendly metal/rock road. Naturally, it was rejected by the metal community at the time but I personally didn't dislike what I heard per se. Just sounded like listenable glam/pop metal to me - a far cry from Grave Digger, but not terrible. Anyhow, I agree that 'Digger' is a terrible name, and I'm not surprised the album flopped. Some people consider Stronger Than Ever to be part of the Grave Digger catalogue, others treat it as a separate entity and band. On Metal Archives, Digger have their own page. Needless to say, they split afterwards, with Chris Boltendahl and guitarist Uwe Lulis formed a new band called 'Hawaii'. Eventually Grave Digger would reform properly in 1991 and the rest is history. I'm willing to get my hands on a copy of Stronger Than Ever if I can find one cheap. It was never officially released on CD (although bootlegs do exist), so it'd have to be vinyl... and I only buy vinyl here and there.
Adam's rating: 7.1/10 (War Games that is, not Stronger Than Ever!)


THE REAPER          1993          (GUN)
- Standouts: 'The Reaper', 'Ride On', 'Shadows of a Moonless Night', 'Play Your Game (And Kill)', 'Wedding Day', 'Spy of Mas'On', 'Fight the Fight', 'Legion of the Lost (Part II)', 'Ruler Mr. H'
As stated in my War Games review above, Grave Digger reformed in 1991 and ditched the whole Hawaii act and any of the commercial influences of the Stronger Than Ever album! In fact, quite a lot has changed here, but all for the better. Simply put, Grave Digger said "fuck that" to grunge and whatever alternative influences were hitting heavy metal bands hard in 1993 (and later on in the decade, nu metal) and put out the The Reaper! In fact, this band would stick to their heavy metal guns from hereon. Aye, The Reaper is a blazing speed/power metal platter that sets the musical template for almost all the albums that would come later. So I guess the band did change their sound up a little following the reformation. The music is much tighter than anything they put out in the '80s, and less primitive for it. I love Heavy Metal Breakdown as much as the next guy, but they definitely needed to tighten the screws by the time the reformed Grave Digger arrived (which they did). Even though I did hear elements of classic power metal on some of those older records, they really embrace that sound now - but they still maintain that critical heavy/speed metal sound to go with it. In short, everything's just better now!

The songs kick butt - 'The Reaper', 'Ruler Mr. H', 'Ride On', 'Fight the Fight' and 'Play Your Game (and Kill)' are extremely fast and tight, and packed full of awesome riffage thanks to guitarist Uwe Lulis. Full-on balls-to-the-wall power/speed metal - a bit like Blind Guardian's early material. 'Shadows of a Moonless Night' is just as heavy, but comes with an anthemic chorus. And 'Wedding Day' may bring down the tempo a few notches, but the bass-driven verses combined with Chris' hilariously OTT vocals keep the songs fresh and varied enough to be memorable. 'Spy of Mas'On' starts off with a doomy riff before erupting into another speed metal monster. The ballad 'Legion of the Lost (Part II)' has been handled really well too, because they made it atmospheric and doom-laden instead of slushy and melodic. If you're gonna do a ballad as a heavy metal band, this is a far better way to approach it.

There are few - if any - major downsides to be found here, even the lesser mid-tempo tracks like 'And the Devil Plays Piano' and 'Under My Flag' still serve their purpose, and are really hard to stick the 'filler' badge on. The production is really good too! Much cleaner than what you heard on any of their older albums, but it only enhances the newly-found tighter style of the music. It's necessary. I suppose the only way for me to really rate this one is by comparing it to other's of similar style. This year I reviewed the Blind Guardian catalogue, and I think Grave Digger's '90s output is on par for me. So I'll slap a 9/10 on The Reaper - I love it, but there's still some metal albums of this era I like more (or the same). And I suppose if they cut out tracks like the aforementioned 'Devil Plays Piano' and 'Under My Flag', the album would still be just as strong and maybe even more streamlined for it.

In my opinion, '80s Grave Digger pretty much does nothing better than '90s Grave Digger. The only thing I really miss is the cheesy dumbassery of tracks like 'Headbanging Man' and 'Heavy Metal Breakdown' that only the '80s could deliver, but even then The Reaper is still kinda cheesy in it's own way. Aside from that, this is a killer album from a band I severely regret not checking out for so, so many years! Excellent old-school metal from the era where you had to be doing something trendy to get mainstream exposure. Definitely one of my favourite Grave Digger discs.
Adam's rating: 9/10


SYMPHONY OF DEATH (EP)          1993          (GUN)
- Standouts: 'Symphony of Death', 'Back to the Roots', 'House of Horror', 'Shout It Out', 'Wild and Dangerous'
When I decided to start collecting Grave Digger's catalogue, I wasn't necessarily gonna bother picking up their EPs at first - until I started to do more research that is. There's a few of them out there, and most have tracks exclusive to them. Symphony of Death is easily the best of the one's I own - it's made up of 7 exclusive tracks (although the first one is just a short into) which is really nice. A lot of EPs only contain 3 or 4 songs, some of which feature on a full-length album - so this is probably one of the best one's I have across my entire collection. And musically, it's pretty much a continuation of The Reaper. The title track is a speedy power metal classic, 'House of Horror' has a catchy chorus and massive riffs while 'Shout It Out' is an anthemic speed metaller. I really love 'Back to the Roots', which is literally about the band getting back to their heavy metal roots. 'World of Fools' too is somewhat anthemic but heavy all the same, and 'Wild and Dangerous' ends the disc on a more intense note. No duffers whatsoever, although I think the best songs on The Reaper are still a little stronger than the best ones on here.

Essential Grave Digger for sure, it's just ironic that out of all their CDs I have, this ended up being one of the more expensive one's considering it's an EP. Must be down to it's rarity I suppose. On the whole I'd estimate I paid between £5-£11 on average for the majority of my Grave Digger discs, which I was pretty happy about. I didn't buy them all at the same time of course, it's been over the course of just over a year. But with Symphony of Death I paid €25 inc. postage (about £21) from a German Discogs seller. It was one of the cheapest copies I could find! Meh, that's just the nature of collecting physical music. Sometimes you've just gotta pay up if you really want something.
Adam's rating: 8.4/10


HEART OF DARKNESS          1995          (GUN)
- Standouts: 'Shadow Maker', 'The Grave Dancer', 'Demon's Day', 'Heart of Darkness', 'Hate', 'Circle of Witches', 'Black Death'
They hadn't quite started making concept records yet, but Heart of Darkness' lengthy near-12 minute title track is based on Joseph Conrad's influential novella of the same name according to Wikipedia. Partly true, but when you read the lyrics and notice all the 'general gone mad in Vietnam' themes, the helicopter rotor blade sound effects and even the brief snippet of 'Ride of the Valkyries', it's quite clear that the song is actually inspired by the masterpiece Francis Ford Coppola film Apocalypse Now! Of course, Apocalypse Now was based on the Heart of Darkness story, but was set during the Vietnam war instead of the Congo in the 1800s. Iron Maiden wrote a song based on the same movie - 'The Edge of Darkness' from The X-Factor album (coincidentally also released in 1995). Anyhow, this song is dark, moody and highly atmospheric when needed (as it should be), but it also brings the heavy metal riffs and anthemic vocal arrangements as you'd expect. Since it goes for on for nearly 12 minutes, it's full of mood shifts and musical transitions, but the song as a whole flows together nicely and is certainly the centrepiece of the album. I love it - it was the band's first really ambitious epic, and they pulled it off.

Along with the title track, the rest of Heart of Darkness' songs are longer than most of what we got on The Reaper. Apart from a 2 minute intro track ('Tears of Madness'), the band opted for a 9-song track listing this time. 'Shadowmaker' is a spectacular speeding opener, and 'The Grave Dancer' that follows is a stompin' mid-tempo headbanger. The heavy-ass 'Demon's Day' is one of the finest tracks on the record - it starts off with a mellow intro that builds up to a very well-crafted mid-tempo riff-fest. But it also boasts a catchy chorus, something the band seem to incorporate very well into their songwriting. 'Warchild' isn't particularly fast either, but again, it's heavy and the way Chris handles the chorus is oh-so memorable. The fast, chuggy 'Hate' keeps the variation of the songs interesting while 'Circle of Witches' blends moody atmosphere with a strong power metal style and a blazing Uwe Lulis guitar solo. 'Black Death' is probably the heaviest, riffiest track on the album, and a no-nonsense way to end things on. 

Picking holes is difficult, naturally. While the album is far from a masterpiece, it's still another high-class slab of true heavy metal in 1995 - something that I assume was not easy to come by at the time unless you really went out of your way to find it. I think I still prefer The Reaper to this one; Heart of Darkness isn't as fast overall (although it still has it's share of speed metal numbers, and the mid-tempo cuts are definitely heavier this time) and is also a bit darker in tone and style as the title suggests. Looking online at fan reviews and chat, some people prefer The Reaper, others prefer this. There's no objectively better album, it all just comes down to preference! I prefer the predecessor, but that's just me! I definitely prefer The Reaper's guitar tones, but Heart of Darkness' production is still dynamic in a charming '90s way. To be honest, I could quite easily make a playlist of Grave Digger's run from The Reaper up to 2003's Rheingold and listen to it on repeat for the rest of the year. Sorry for the spoilers, but all these albums are that good! And I knew I was expecting to give Heart of Darkness at least an 8/10, but for some reason I went into this review thinking this is my least favourite of these particular records. I'm not so sure right now though! Since I bought this disc several months ago, I've listened to it a lot in the car (along with all the other GD albums in that fantastic 9 year run they had) and for some reason I seem to be enjoying it even more on this particular Saturday morning at home as I type this review! More classic metal that ignores all the trends that plagued the 1990s.
Adam's rating: 8.7/10


TUNES OF WAR          1996          (GUN)
- Standouts: 'Scotland United', 'The Dark of the Sun', 'William Wallace (Braveheart)', 'The Bruce (The Lion King)', 'The Battle of Flodden', 'The Ballad of Mary (Queen of Scots)', 'Cry for Freedom (James the VI)', 'Rebellion (The Clans Are Marching)'
This one tops a lot of peoples' ranking lists - I can understand why, but it's not my personal number 1 choice... hardly a criticism though. As I said in the Heart of Darkness review above, I think all their albums from The Reaper up to 2003's Rheingold are tip-top - there's just some I like more than others. With 1996's Tunes of War, the band tread new territory seeing as this was the album that kicked off the beginning of their 'Middle Ages trilogy'. Naturally, this was a trilogy of concept albums with a different Medieval theme (1996's Tunes of War, 1998's Knights of the Cross and 1999's Excalibur) - and this instance, the band delve into Scotland's conflicts with England, and their fight for independence during the Middle Ages. Interestingly Grave Digger's fascination with Scotland wouldn't end here, but more about that in a later review!

When it comes to concept albums, I've always considered the story/premise as secondary to the music in terms of importance. If the music sucks, then the album's just bad full-stop - it doesn't matter if the lyrics have been handled well or not. But I really like the way Grave Digger handle their concept albums (many more to come!); they stick to their power/speed/heavy metal style and bring the lyrics and topics in a way that is straightforward and easy to understand. They do occasionally touch on whatever music is generally associated subject matter in tiny amounts - with Tunes of War they add guitars to the bagpipe intro 'The Brave', and it exists to set the mood of the album only. The rest of this CD is pure Grave Digger goodness as you'd expect. Basically, when the band write concept albums, they almost always still sound like Grave Digger!! Some bands seem to suddenly forget who they are when they have a pop at making a concept record - look at Judas Priest's Nostradamus! On that album they managed to stretch the whole thing out to over 100+ minutes and dabble with orchestral instrumentation! This is not a Grave Digger thing to at all.

Anyway, the music has gotten maybe a little more power metal at this stage - but it's such a natural progression from the last 2 albums that I still think the difference in sound is very minimal overall. Like I said, the band don't do anything drastically different. Songs like 'William Wallace (Braveheart)' and 'Scotland United' are fast and heavy, but also have that anthemic charm about them thanks to the huge backing vocals during the choruses. The massive choruses to 'The Dark of the Sun' and 'The Bruce (The Lion King)' in particular make me want to join the rebellion, and I'm not even Scottish!! I'm English! Some tracks like 'The Battle of Flodden' and 'Cry for Freedom (James the VI)' are, tight, crunchy speed metal cuts that slot alongside the more anthemy numbers very nicely. Others such as 'The Truth' come with a nice level of keyboard-driven atmosphere to accompany the pure heavy metal riffage. The band also get slow and melodic on 'The Ballad of Mary (Queen of Scots)', and it only enhances the enjoyment of this album further. It's a ballad that doesn't kill the pacing of the record. 'Rebellion (The Clans Are Marching)' is a fan-favourite for good reason and almost always gets played live.

As with either of the last 2 albums, Tunes of War doesn't have a lot wrong with it. Production this time is just as good as Heart of Darkness', with high-sustain guitars, audible bass and no over-produced glossiness. I guess I can be critical of the fact there's no mind-blowing tracks to speak of here (also no lengthy epic in the same vein as the song 'Heart of Darkness'), but it doesn't matter when the songs are consistently strong from beginning to end. Endlessly cool old-school metal riffage, wild vocals from Chris and Medieval lyrics to singalong to! What more do you want?! Before typing this review, I was ready stick it below Heart of Darkness. But I literally reviewed that one 2 days ago, and I think I had an ever-so-slightly better time with Tunes! To be honest, if you were to ask me tomorrow which album I prefer, I might just pick HoD. It really depends on my mood! Either way, another '90s true metal classic and the album that would set the blueprint for their next few releases. 
Adam's rating: 8.8/10

KNIGHTS OF THE CROSS          1998         (GUN)
- Standouts: 'Knights of the Cross', 'Monks of War', 'Fanatic Assassins', 'Lionheart', 'The Keeper of the Holy Grail', 'Over the Sea', 'The Curse of Jacques', 'The Battle if Bannockburn'
Album number 2 in the Middle Ages trilogy, and this time it's all about the Knights Templar and the Crusades. Like Tunes of War, Knights of the Cross' themes are handled in a fairly straightforward manner and the music is as metal as ever. One other thing I like about Grave Digger's approach to concept records (which I didn't mention in the review above) is the fact I can listen to most of these songs individually or in a playlist. I don't feel like I need to hear the album in full every time to enjoy these tracks, but obviously playing the whole disc in a single sitting is still the best way to hear it. Anyway, the best song on this disc is probably 'Lionheart'. It's pure old-school power metal euphoria - fast, melodic, dramatic... operatic? I love it. It's how power metal should sound to my ears, and a far cry from silly overblown bands like DragonForce (sorry to any DragonForce fans out there, but they've done it for me!). 

Of course, the rest of this album is full of goodies. The title track, 'Over the Sea', 'Monks of War' and 'Inquisition' bring the band's brand of galloping power/speed metal to the forefront. The guitars thunder through the riffs, but also bring a sense of melody to the grunt in pure power metal fashion. 'Heroes of a Time' isn't exactly a ballad, but does bring down the tempo and add a touch of cleanliness to the music. 'Fanatic Assassins' even makes use of Middle Eastern-sounding synths to set the mood of the story it's trying to tell, but the riffs are really punchy and punky. Maybe you could call this track a little more experimental than usual, but it's cool! 'The Keeper of the Holy Grail' too, is built entirely around atmosphere and serves it's purpose in telling the Knights Templar story. The use of layered, epic backing vocals on 'Baphomet' really adds to the grandeur of the album, but is not overdone either. Acoustic guitars are used in moderation (see 'The Curse of Jacques', which for some strange reason manages to remind me a little of Iron Maiden's more modern material vocally) and never overbear the power of the music. Bagpipes briefly make a return for the intro to 'The Battle of Bannockburn'! Other than that, the rest of this track smokes, and is a ballsy finale. Not a lot else to say about the songs as they're all prime examples of '90s Euro power metal. No masterpieces to speak of again, but consistently great throughout for sure. The production is similar to that of Tunes of War, and only makes them all the more enjoyable to me.

Right now I'm feeling an 8.5. If I put Knights of the Cross on again in my car on the drive to work tomorrow, I might like it better than Tunes of War. I think Knights is a tad more melodic than Tunes overall, so the power/speed metal ratio is probably leaning more towards the former here. But that's not a bad thing! Again, it purely depends on what sort of mood I'm in; from the looks of it, Grave Digger too!! Chris' vocals are better here in my honest opinion, but the riffs... maybe not? Whatever! Great album once again.
Adam's rating: 8.5/10

EXCALIBUR          1999          (GUN)

- Standouts: All except 'Emerald Eyes'!

The final album in the Middle Ages trilogy was this, 1999's Excalibur. If the title didn't make it obvious enough, the album focuses on the story of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. It was also guitarist Uwe Lulis swansong with Grave Digger (who eventually wound up in Accept), and what a way to go out on! Not only is this is my favourite of the Middle Ages trilogy, I think it's my favourite Grave Digger record in general! Even though the band don't make any drastic changes to the formula they've had since Tunes of War (possibly even The Reaper) here, the songwriting on Excalibur is peak. I can't tell you how many times I've listened to the first 2 tracks (excluding the short mood-setting intro 'The Secrets of Merlin' that is) 'Pendragon' and 'Excalibur' since I got my hands on this album about a year ago! Seriously, I can't!! Both are soaring slabs of power metal, delivering all the energy and grandeur you could wish for from the genre. They summarise Grave Digger so well. I'd also argue that the next track, 'The Round Table (Forever)' and 'Lancelot', perfectly showcase the band's ability to write rock-solid mid-tempo heavy metal. Their riffs are relatively simplistic, but grab my attention as soon as the guitar strings are plucked, and the vocal arrangements across both are hugely memorable. Yes, memorable! I mean, all their '90s albums are memorable, there's just something about the songwriting on this particular one that's made me revisit it more than anything else in the catalogue! 'Morgane Le Fay' almost reminds me of Painkiller-era Judas Priest thanks to it's thunderous riffing and cheesy atmosphere (a bit like Priest's 'Night Crawler' I guess). 'The Spell' too, has tons of atmosphere and a mid-tempo pace to keep the flow interesting. Meanwhile 'Tristan's Fate', 'The Final War' and 'Mordred's Song' bring the speed with all the added power metal vocal grandeur on top. Exactly the kind of metal traits I've grown to love since my teens!

There's only 1 song here I could do without, and it's the ballad 'Emerald Eyes'. I actually enjoy plenty of Grave Digger's ballads, but this one just leaves a sour taste due to it's piano-driven nature and Chris' vocal style (it's difficult not to laugh at the way he sings "You are my QUEEEENN!" repeatedly). It just doesn't work for me, and tries to be too tender for it's own good! It's a skip for me whenever it comes on sadly, but thankfully the only skippable cut here. Also worth noting is the production. This album sounds a bit cleaner to me than either Tunes of War and Knights of the Cross, but in a more professional way. The guitars cut through the mix nicer than before, and frankly I think this is the best-sounding album of the Middle Ages trilogy. The fact I also think it has the best set of songs is a coincidence! If I could only own a single Grave Digger album, Excalibur would be it - unsurprisingly. It's not a masterpiece per se, but certainly one of my '90s metal picks out of any subgenre. The majority of this band's albums hit the spot with me, but this is the one I've spent the most time listening to. And hey, I might just spin it again after this review!

Adam's rating: 9.1/10

Bands I love (in no particular order) #1 - Annihilator

Next month the earMusic label are set to reissue 3 albums from Annihilator's back catalogue - King of the Kill (1994), Refresh the Demon (1996) and Remains (1997) as well as a compilation of bonus songs titled More Noise Vol. 1. Since school I've been a huge Annihilator fan, and although I've owned all 3 of those '90s albums on CD for as long as I can remember, I've pre-ordered both the new King of the Kill and Refresh the Demon reissues on vinyl, because I've always thought it'd be nice to have them as LPs without spending an arm and a leg on older pressings. Maybe I'll get the Remains vinyl too someday, but I don't know if I like that album enough to own 2 copies. I've also pre-ordered the More Noise compilation on CD, 'cos I've got collector's syndrome that's why! Anyhow, I've been on another Annihilator binge lately after hearing the news of these reissues, and it's made me want to talk in general about them. In fact, I think I'm gonna start a series of these posts about my favourite bands, although I won't be sticking to any sort of schedule with them. They'll just be occasional.

Anyway, I started listening to Annihilator when I was maybe 14 years old (this would have been around 2006). They were one of the first metal bands outside the mainstream I really went out of my way to get into. By mainstream, I mean the big names like Black Sabbath, Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest etc., the sort of bands that everyone's heard of. Weirdly enough, I specifically remember how and where I heard of Annihilator - the UK Classic Rock magazine did a heavy metal special issue covering the history of the genre, and examples of a few different bands within different subgenres. Under thrash metal were the obvious names like Slayer, Anthrax and Megadeth along with bands like Exodus, Testament and possibly Kreator (my memory's not that good!). Oh, and Canada's Annihilator of course. Even though I had albums from all these more underground bands by the time I left school (underground by my standards at that time anyway), for whatever reason that little write-up about Annihilator is what made me go out and order a copy of 1989's Alice in Hell, their debut very soon after. Me and my mate used to go to our local HMV shop in town almost every Saturday to buy metal CDs with our pocket money and paper-round earnings, but we had to order in our 1998 Remastered copies of Alice in Hell. I even remember us picking them up the following weekend! It's weird how my brain remembers stuff that seem so insignificant, but considering the die-hard fan I am of this band, it probably wasn't an insignificant memory at all even if I didn't know it at the time.

I was of course, blown away by the technical prowess of Alice in Hell, and the speed and precision of the songs. But also the melody - guitarist and Annihilator brainchild Jeff Waters wasn't trying to write the heaviest, most aggressive thrash you'd ever heard. No, he was effectively writing what I consider to be 'thinking-man's thrash' with the album - maybe not lyrically, because the lyrics can be somewhat silly here and there (but still awesome all the same). But musically there's classical guitar-style playing and melodies to accompany the tight riffing and insane picking speeds, as well as a charming atmosphere. And the snarling vocal style of ex-DOA punker Randy Rampage (RIP) balanced out the nerdiness of the music perfectly! In short, this album blew me away, and songs like 'Alison Hell', 'W.T.Y.D.', 'Burns Like a Buzzsaw Blade', 'Human Insecticide' and my absolute favourite 'Word Salad' are still regular plays for me today despite the fact it was over half my lifetime ago when I first heard them (I'm 33 now).

Naturally buying that classic debut led me to purchasing the rest of their discography, although I probably didn't achieve that for a couple of years because I had limited money until I got a full-time job aged 18! I had to be more choosy with what I bought when I was still in education for that reason, but I definitely had Alice in Hell, 1990's Never, Neverland as well as 2007's Metal by the time I finished school in 2008. Of course, the more Annihilator albums you listen to, the more you realise that calling them a 'band' isn't necessarily true in all cases. Endless line-up changes have been a thing with Annihilator since forever, with only Jeff Waters being present from their inception and playing on every album, as well as writing near enough every single song (with a few exceptions where various singers have contributed lyrics and the fact he sometimes wrote songs with invisible member John Bates). In reality then, Annihilator has always been more of a 1-man project, with various collaborating musicians along the way. I don't know if that was how Jeff originally envisioned things; I was always under the impression it just turned out that way because keeping a band together can be very difficult. That or he was just unlucky.

As a fan, I never took much issue with the regular personnel changes. It just makes the discography that more interesting. The important thing is that Jeff still writes the songs regardless of who's singing, and for that reason every album sounds like Annihilator because they always have Waters' stamp on them. His guitar playing and technique is instantly recognisable to me. His riffs and solos don't sound like Dave Mustaine's or Jeff Hanneman's. They sound like Jeff Waters'!! Yet no album feels like a cut n' paste of the last. They all have that unmistakeable Annihilator feel of technical speed metal guitars infused with touches of melodic leads, but some have more groove than the last, others might be faster than average, and are just heavier. And of course, with guys like Randy Rampage, Joe Comeau, Dave Padden, Coburn Pharr, Aaron Randall as well as Jeff Waters himself all handling lead vocals across various different records in this catalogue, you can expect a lot of different vocal styles. Also, even though Jeff is known primarily as a guitarist, the man knows how to write a good bassline! Yep, he plays bass on many of the records too.

Ah yes, the albums. Here's a quick summary of each and all of the major releases. Obviously I already reviewed them in detail a while back, so for more info check my Annihilator post:

• ALICE IN HELL (1989): Absolute classic as already described above. My first and favourite Annihilator record. - 9.4/10
• NEVER, NEVERLAND (1990): Rock solid follow-up to the debut. Maybe a tad more melody in the songs, catchier too. But still 100% technical speed metal nirvana. Coburn Pharr's vocals are slightly more accomplished and less juvenile than Randy Rampage's. For many people (including Jeff Waters himself) this is Annihilator's best. I won't argue with that despite it not being my own number 1. - 9.2/10
• SET THE WORLD ON FIRE (1993): More radio-friendly than before, but still full of unmistakeable Annihilator chops all-round. Includes the woeful ballad 'Phoenix Rising', but fortunately most of the other experimental songs are still fairly decent. 'Knight Jumps Queen', 'Set the World On Fire', 'Bats in the Belfry' and 'No Zone' are stone-cold classics. Aaron Randall's voice worked well for this album, but I'm glad he didn't stick around afterwards. - 7.4/10
• KING OF THE KILL (1994): One of my favourite speed metal albums of the '90s. Apart from drummer Randy Black, Jeff runs the show now and even takes over vocal duties. He has more grit in his voice than either Pharr or Randall. Songs like 'Annihilator', 'Hell is a War', 'Fiasco' and the title track kick arse, while others like '21','Bad Child' and 'The Box' add a new level of groove to the usual ingredients. Great album. - 8.2/10
• REFRESH THE DEMON (1996): Follows a fairly similar formula to King of the Kill in that Jeff still handles guitars, bass and vocals, but still has enough going for it to stand on it's own. 'Refresh the Demon', 'Ultraparanoia', 'Syn. Kill 1', 'The Pastor of Disaster' and 'A Man Called Nothing' are absolute classic brands of Annihilator speed metal. 'City of Ice' and 'Hunger' are underrated deep cuts. 'Innocent Eyes' is an embarrassingly terrible acoustic ballad, but other than that this one also gets a big thumbs-up from me! - 8/10 
• IN COMMAND - LIVE 1989-1990 (1996, live album): Strong collection of live material from the 1989-1990 period, so both Randy Rampage and Coburn Pharr feature here. The Never, Neverland era was a big time for the band live, because they supported Judas Priest on the Painkiller tour. Anyhow, not exactly the greatest live album of all time because the performances don't differ all that much from the studio counterparts (then again, maybe that's a good thing?), but still great for fans like myself. - 8/10
• REMAINS (1997): The last album with Jeff as lead vocalist for a while, and the only one not to feature a drummer! Yep, this is Jeff's attempt at industrial metal. Thankfully a lot of the songs do still sound like Annihilator (albeit in a weaker format), but some really aren't good - namely 'Bastiage', 'Wind', 'No Love' and 'I Want'. On the other hand, 'Tricks and Traps' and 'Reaction' are 2 of the greatest songs Jeff ever recorded! The rest of the album is mid for me, but not bad. - 5.9/10
• CRITERIA FOR A BLACK WIDOW (1999): Somewhat overlooked Randy Rampage reunion album, not quite a classic but still very solid. Potentially some of Annihilator's fastest/heaviest material can be found here, choice cuts for me are 'Bloodbath', 'Punctured', 'Back to the Palace', 'Nothing Left' and 'Sonic Homicide'. Not every song is on point, but overall an underrated effort. - 7.8/10
• CARNIVAL DIABLOS (2001): Liege Lord vocalist Joe Comeau takes over the mic and is in my opinion the best and most metal vocalist Annihilator ever had. And the songs are diverse and showcase all of Jeff's best songwriting techniques. Blazing thrashers ('Denied', 'Battered', 'Hunter Killer'), killer old-school speed metal ('Epic of War', 'The Rush'), strong mid-tempo grooves ('Time Bomb', 'The Perfect Virus')... even an AC/DC-esque hard rocker ('Shallow Grave') and a catchy joke number ('Chicken and Corn')! This album has it all. Still not perfect, but very strong indeed. - 8.7/10
• WAKING THE FURY (2002): Second and last album with Joe Comeau, and it's largely a speed metal tour de force! Tighter and more consistent in style than Carnival Diablos, this is one of my favourite metal albums from the nu metal-dominated early millennium. The fuzzy guitar tones and production take some getting used to, that much is true. But really this is what metal is all about for me. - 9/10
• DOUBLE LIVE ANNIHILATION (2003, live album): The definitive Annihilator live package, at least so far anyway. 2 CDs of pure energetic heavy metal goodness from the Joe Comeau era! Speaking of, Joe sings all these tracks brilliantly, regardless of who sang what originally. Songs from every album to date at the time (even Remains) makes for a jolly good time to be had indeed! - 9/10
• THE ONE (2004, EP): New vocalist Dave Padden doesn't give the best first impression here. His alternative metal and sometimes emo-ish vocal style doesn't mesh well with Annihilator; 'The One' is a pathetically slushy ballad, and 'All for You' is a horrible modern metal mess. On the plus side, 'Weapon X' is a blazing number. Overall though... this is meh. - 4/10
• ALL FOR YOU (2004): Sadly a lot of this album continues in similar fashion to The One EP. The fact it has 'All for You' and 'The One' on it doesn't help, but also 'Holding On' (sang by Waters) somehow manages to be even worse!! Dave Padden feels like a misfit here and some of the lyrics are absolutely terrible, particularly on 'Dr. Psycho'! A few strong tracks ('Demon Dance', 'Bled', 'Rage Absolute') thankfully hint at what was to come on the next album, but aren't enough to save All for You's poor status. - 4/10
• SCHIZO DELUXE (2005): A massive improvement over it's predecessor in every single way. Dave Padden amends his vocal style to actually suit Annihilator and the songwriting ditches any of the modern/alternative influences that All for You suffered from. A damn heavy record from start-to-finish with zero ballads, just superb technical thrash mixed with some groove. 8.5/10
• METAL (2007): A disappointment after Schizo Deluxe. Nothing to do with Dave Padden, just some odd ideas here and there and a showering of pointless guest guitarists all over the record. Regardless of how good players like Alexi Laiho, Jeff Loomis or Corey Beaulieu may be, I want to hear Jeff do the guitar solos on an Annihilator record! Also, 'Couple Suicide' (the only song here not sang by Padden, but rather Danko Jones and Angela Gossow) is one of the worst things committed to this catalogue!! That said, I very much enjoy 'Clown Parade', 'Army of One', 'Downright Dominate' and 'Chasing the High'. A mixed bag, but one I can enjoy more-so than not. - 6.4/10
• LIVE AT MASTERS OF ROCK (2008, live album): Decent live album with Dave Padden on vocals. The setlist is mostly oldies although a handful of others from Waking the Fury and Metal do make appearances too. Not as much content as Double Live Annihilation however, and not as good either... but still more than good enough to warrant a purchase for serious fans. - 7/10
• ANNIHILATOR (2010): Awesome return to form, and my favourite of the Padden-era. This album has the highest number of Jeff Waters guitar solos on it if I'm not mistaken? No proper ballads too, which is always a plus! 'The Trend' is a melodic thrash metal masterpiece if I say so myself, and others like 'Coward', 'Ambush', 'The Other Side' and 'Payback' kick major arse. Plus the Van Halen cover, 'Romeo Delight', is a stupidly fun and energetic way to end the album on! - 8.7/10
• FEAST (2013): A very worthy sequel to the 2010 self-titled. Maybe a little more diverse musically at times (check out the funk metal vibes of 'No Surrender'!), but this is a good thing. Lots of killer modern Annihilator numbers like 'Demon Code', 'No Way Out' and 'Deadlock' to digest. Maybe not as consistent as it's predecessor, but a great album none-the-less. - 8.2/10
• SUICIDE SOCIETY (2015): Although it was disappointing to see Dave Padden exit after Feast, Jeff Waters returns to handling all the vocals (as well as guitars as normal) here for the first time since Remains. He'd continue to handle vocals on all following releases up until 2022's Metal II. So at least you know what to expect vocally in this regard. Aside from the vocals, the songs are fairly similar to what Feast offered, only a bit less memorable this time around sadly. Still a good album however - 'Suicide Society', 'My Revenge' and 'Creepin' Again' are classic Annihilator to me, there's just a little more filler than the last record. - 7.3/10
• TRIPLE THREAT (2017, live album): Note - I don't own the box set version of this album, which contains a DVD - just the 2-CD version. The live performance at Bang Your Head festival in Germany is enjoyable enough, if a little short at 11 songs. Strong performances from the band however, with Jeff fronting the band once again. The other CD however, is an unplugged studio recording of old numbers, and frankly I don't think classics such as 'Stonewall' and 'Bad Child' work at all in an acoustic mode. Naturally, most of these unplugged tracks are ballads, but I was never a fan of 'Holding On', 'Phoenix Rising', 'Innocent Eyes' etc. in the first place!! - 5.5/10
• FOR THE DEMENTED (2017): The best Annihilator album since Waking the Fury! For the Demented takes all the best elements of the Padden-era whilst retaining an irresistibly old-school metal quality - maybe the most retro Jeff's sounded since the '90s. Even the ballad 'Pieces of You' is a good one! Call me a fanboy all you want ('cos I am one after all), but this is A+ Annihilator for me. - 8.9/10
• BALLISTIC, SADISTIC (2020): A scorcher of a record that rarely stops to catch it's breath. Some of the songs share deliberate similarities to oldies musically ('Dressed Up for Evil' is similar to 'World Salad' from Alice in Hell, 'Psycho Ward' is similar to 'Stonewall' from Never, Neverland, 'Lip Service' is similar 'Knight Jumps Queen' from Set the World On Fire), but darn it these songs rip! Some modern classics to be found with barnburners like 'Armed to the Teeth', 'The Attitude' and 'Out With the Garbage'. If this is the last Annihilator album of original songs we get, well, things could've been a lot worse. - 8.7/10
• METAL II (2022): Fairly pointless remake of 2007's Metal, unless you never heard the original. The guitar work remains the same, but the drums have been re-recorded by Dave Lombardo and new vocals from Stu Block. Dave is obviously Slayer's legendary drummer so I can't knock his performance (even if Mike Mangini was equally great on the original Metal) but Stu Block sometimes over-sings these tracks and sounds a little OTT compared to Dave Padden's original vocals, and not in a good way. And I liked Stu with Iced Earth! The real problem is, Metal was never the best Annihilator record to begin with. Redoing it with other musicians won't change that fact. - 5/10

A strong catalogue then, even if there are a couple of misfires here and there. Aside from Metal II of course, I don't think Jeff ever made the same album twice. Each and all of these albums have their own soul. Even the weakest ones like Remains and All for You still have some good songs on them. If you can only own 1, Alice in Hell or Never, Neverland are the obvious choices. But I'm tired of people online claiming those first 2 albums to be the only worthwhile Annihilator records. I mean, hello?! King of the Kill, Refresh the Demon, Carnival Diablos, Waking the Fury, Schizo Deluxe, Annihilator, Feast, For the Demented and Ballistic, Sadistic... I love all these albums too!!

In total I've only seen Annihilator twice live. I was supposed to see them way back in 2013 in Manchester with Dave Padden, around the time Feast came out. But I was sick at the time and couldn't face the drive to Manchester (not a place I like going to for concerts, but in the case of Annihilator I was willing to go - had I been healthy anyway). According to Setlist.fm and my Feast review they also played a gig in 2015 close enough for me attend in 2015 (when I was on holiday in America) and also in 2018 (when I was on holiday in Prague)! Anyway, I didn't get to see them until 2017 when they played Bloodstock festival that year. Jeff Waters is just about one of the tightest players I've ever seen. I then saw them at a headlining gig at KK's Steel Mill in Wolverhampton 2019, and this show was awesome. It was a mid-week concert so it wasn't as packed as it should have been, but Jeff put on a hell of a performance, and the setlist was fucking great for fanboys like myself. Lots of deep cuts were played, such as '21' from King of the Kill, 'Ultraparanoia' from Refresh the Demon, 'Burns Like a Buzzsaw Blade' from Alice in Hell and even 'Tricks and Traps' from Remains. That really made my night. Needless to say I bought lots of merch that night too! 

Since 2019 I haven't seen them, but then they haven't really toured or played anywhere at all sadly. Sucks really, 'cos I'm pretty sure it was around that 2019 tour that Jeff moved to the UK from Canada. I remember when I first heard about that I automatically assumed that UK Annihilator tours would be pretty regular from thereon, but I was wrong! To be fair, he's opened a recording studio since that UK move and I can only guess that's kinda taken priority over Annihilator for him these days.

Apparently Jeff finished work on the next Annihilator studio album back in June 2023, but I've heard barely anything about it and it's been almost 2 years. We've got those reissues and that compilation coming next month, but there's no news of a tour or any concerts either. Apparently Stu Block is supposed to fill in the vocalist slot at future Annihilator shows, but like I said, the band haven't toured for years now. Here's hoping that changes soon, but we'll see. Either way, I've been cranking Annihilator for more than half my lifetime, and I'll continue to do so.

Albums I own, but don't recall where or when I obtained them!

Another fun, random post!

The other day I was thinking about albums in my collection that I have absolutely no recollection of obtaining. I own plenty of albums I don't even like, but I still remember how and when I got them. For example, I've got a copy of Linkin Park's Hybrid Theory on my shelves. I can't stand Linkin Park, but I know why it's there - my older brother was into the alt rock/nu metal scene in the early 2000s, and it was his CD. At some point it ended up in my collection, and even though it's not my thing at all, I'm still keeping it there 'cos that's the kind of guy I am! Also, I own 3 Killswitch Engage albums - I don't like 'em. But I remember trying to get into them many moons ago!! No, the point of this post is to talk about discs in my collection I genuinely have no memory of obtaining whatsoever. Many of them I like! So here's my list in alphabetical order. I may add to it if I think of any more later.

BITCHES SIN - The Sound of Silence (2009)

A 3-track EP from New Wave of British Heavy Metal band Bitches Sin. No idea why or how I ended up with this. I'm a big fan of the NWoBHM movement; I have lots of albums from many different bands, but why I'd pick up an EP and not a complete album from one of the more obscure bands of that scene is strange to me. Normally if I spot a NWoBHM release in the wild that I don't have, I'll buy it (assuming it isn't crazy expensive) - but I can't imagine prioritising getting this. But I must've done, because I own it! Either way, the music here is rather good. It's from 2009 and you can tell it's not one of their early releases, but I can tell that it's a veteran band playing traditional metal of course. Solid, crunchy heavy metal - 'nuff said.

FEEDER - Comfort in Sound (2002)

Feeder are one of those bands I've always quite liked before I got hooked on music at age 13. They were kinda big here in the UK around the early 2000s and I still think some of their singles from that time are great. Just solid, catchy rock! Often nonsensical and/or dumb lyrics, sure, but fun! I don't ever remember buying this album, Comfort in Sound (their 4th) however. The one before (Echo Park), yes, but not this one. I just stuck 'Just the Way I'm Feeling' on from this album now - I haven't heard it in forever, and what a great song! The rest of this album is fairly varied musically, and better than I remembered. Some of it is a bit too lightweight at times, but songs like 'Helium' and 'Godzilla' give me a lot of '90s alternative/grunge vibes (of course, they'd already made 2 albums in the '90s). I don't enjoy this album as much as Echo Park, but it's rather good either way!

FLEETWOOD MAC - Fleetwood Mac (2006)

A compilation of early Fleetwood Mac material - we're talkin' the Peter Green years of the '60s, when they were a fully-fledged blues band. A very different band to what they would become later, and definitely not as successful commercially. Of course there's gonna be purists out there who prefer OG Fleetwood Mac, even if both iterations barely sound alike. Me? Well, I've always liked blues up to a point, so I'll take the Peter Green era. But I can't call myself a fan at all - I don't remember buying this CD, and I don't know where it's come from. It looks like a budget release, so there's little in the way of any track information/CD booklet etc., and I'm definitely not a big enough fan to actually have bought this with my own money. Oddly enough, I do own a copy of the self-titled 1968 debut, but that's the only Fleetwood Mac album I remember physically buying in a shop. As for this compilation, I think it potentially could have been a disc someone in my family was throwing out, until I rescued it. Not sure though. 

HATEBREED - For the Lions (2009)

I've always somewhat liked this band. I'm a fan of the debut, Satisfaction Is the Death of Desire and also 2003's Rise of Brutality. The rest of their stuff is just decent to me - they're almost always listenable, but not good enough for me to want to collect their entire discography. Good live band though! Anyway, For the Lions is a covers album, and these things are almost always patchy. The only covers albums I actively seek out are one's from my absolute favourite bands, for collection purposes. So why I have this particular one from a band I only casually enjoy is beyond me! As a covers album, it's alright I guess - covers from hardcore bands like Cro-Mags, D.R.I., Suicidal Tendencies, Agnostic Front, Bad Brains etc., but also metal bands like Obituary, Metallica, Slayer and Sepultura. Probably worth hearing once, but not much more.

JAMES IHA - Let It Come Down (1998)

Solo album from the Smashing Pumpkins' long-time guitarist. I've not listened to it much at all, but I've just heard a couple tracks from it for the first time in forever as I'm typing this and it's not bad! A floaty, mostly mellow chilled out alt rock album. Lots of acoustic and electric guitars with some Pumpkins flair, but definitely not trying to sound like them either. Plus, James is a surprisingly competent vocalist. But as for where and when I got this, who knows?

JUDAS PRIEST - The Collection (1989)

A compilation that I supposedly picked up because it was cheap, according to my Judas Priest review page anyway. But where I bought it from I don't remember at all! Even if it was cheap, it's still a relatively pointless purchase, other than to make my collection look better. It's practically the same album as 1981's Hero, Hero (a compilation of the first 2 Priest records, Rocka Rolla and Sad Wings of Destiny), in that it has the same artwork and the tracklisting is nearly identical. The only difference is this one is missing the song 'Caviar and Meths' from Rocka Rolla and the order of the tracklisting is different. Having any extra Priest discs in my collection is no bad thing because they're one of my absolute favourite bands, but I really don't remember buying this, especially since I already owned Hero, Hero.

KING - Sufferance Obsolescent (2008)

Black metal from Canada. Looking at their Metallum page, this and a couple of demos are the only things they recorded. This album is just okay in my books. The guitar riffs aren't just your usual tremolo-picking affair, and even sound a little traditionally metal-inspired at times which is nice. There's also lots of keyboards to make for a doomy atmosphere, but the vocals are subpar and bring the album down a notch sadly. Music good, vocals not so good. Average BM album. Many of my underground metal CDs (death metal, black metal etc.) are pickups from Bloodstock festival, this definitely isn't one of them. Not a clue how long it's been in my collection, or where I got it!

MACHINE HEAD - Hellalive (2003)

A live album from a band I'm not even all that keen on. Hell, for me I'd even say Machine Head are one of the more overrated bands in metal, and I'm not sure why I own as many albums from them as I do. I've even got a crappy page on here about them, which I wrote way back in 2017!! Yep, that one's in desperate need of a re-write, but I don't know if I can bring myself to do it. I like a few of their albums, the rest of the ones I have are either poor or mediocre in my books. As for Hellalive, I apparently thought it was decent when I wrote about it in 2017 (although 'American High' is still one of the worst metal songs of all time), but I definitely wouldn't have gone out of my way to actually get this one in my collection. I think it must've been a cheap record shop find.

STURMTIGER - World at War 1914-1918 (2014)

A First World War-themed death metal concept album, with maybe some hints of black metal here and there too. Like that King album, this is underground extreme metal to the core, but I don't know where I got it. Maybe I did pick it up at Bloodstock one year? I don't remember either way! Unlike that King album however, this one is pretty good. I like it. The music is full of dirty, grimey guitars, endless blastbeats and insanely low growling vocals. I love military history, and the fact it's a WWI-inspired metal album that isn't Sabaton is likely why I bought it. 

TESTAMENT - Live at Eindhoven (1987)

A band I haven't talked about much on this blog, but also a band I really like and own a number of their releases. Anyhow, I have this live album on vinyl, but I don't recall where or when I got it. I wouldn't have bought it online, so I can definitely rule that out. It's a cool thing to have in my collection though - it came out just after their first album, The Legacy (one of the best thrash albums ever in my opinion), so the tracklisting is pretty much made up entirely of those songs - aside from an Alex Skolnick guitar solo that is. Guitar tones are a bit janky, but the energy and raw power of this show is entertaining as hell.

TRIVIUM - Ascendancy (2005)

Well, I have genuinely no clue whatsoever why, how or when I bought this album. I never liked Trivium - I remember when Ascendancy came out in '05. I was in school and at the very beginnings of my CD collection. So I was buying oldies from bands like AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Metallica, Iron Maiden etc., and Trivium to me were kind of like a lame emo metal band to me. The few lads that were into heavier music dug this, but not the classics. I was the opposite. A bit harsh in retrospect, but I'm no metalcore fan. Like, AT ALL. I'd even pick nu metal over metalcore, because there's at least a handful of bands and records from that genre I like for nostalgic reasons more than anything. So how Ascendancy ended up in my collection is baffling! I never bought this back in school, so I must have bought it either in my late teens or as an adult!! My copy is in almost mint condition, so I think I must have bought it brand new. Last year I finished my Venom collection, and I swapped the jewel case for the album Fallen Angels with Ascendancy's because it was in better condition and I care way more about the condition of my Venom discs than I do this Trivium CD!! But yeah, I really don't like this album still. 'Dying in Your Arms' is a song that makes me wanna vomit. I hear that Trivium have moved away from the metalcore sound of their early albums like Ascendancy and The Crusade, to the point where I've been actively recommended their 2021 album In the Court of the Dragon (and even 2008's Shogun) because they're not like they were in the mid-2000s, but to me they'll always be that annoying metalcore band I knew as a teenager in school. Maybe someday I'll force myself to give 'em another try.

UFO - Mechanix (1982)

Oh I absolutely get why this is in my collection, because I love UFO. I just don't remember buying it on vinyl!! I have every UFO album, and I definitely had this one on CD before whenever and wherever it was I got it on vinyl. I remember when I bought my house in 2022 and moved all my music collection over to my new home, I found this in my vinyl stack and was pleasantly surprised. But when or where I got, I genuinely have no idea. It's an old pressing, so I think I may have gotten it at an antique store many years ago or something. Definitely not a record fair. Anyhow, Mechanix is a great album from the underrated Paul Chapman guitar era, and I've already reviewed it here. 3 out of 4 albums Chapman recorded with UFO are classics in my opinion.

UNEARTH - Unearth (2004)

I have genuinely no idea why I own this. For starters, it's not even an album - it's some sort of promo DVD in a jewel case. So it looks like a regular album on my shelf, until you pull it out and look at the disc. Secondly, Unearth are a metalcore band, and I really don't get on with metalcore. I know I said I liked Hatebreed, but they always go hard because they fuse METAL with HARDCORE and aren't really associated with the stereotype. For whatever reason, metalcore normally means cringe-worthy breakdowns, whiny pop melodies and audiences of scene kids, i.e. early Trivium, Killswitch Engage, Parkway Drive etc.. It's easily one of my least favourite metal subgenres. Therefore, this disc has never been played since my ownership of it!! Obviously I don't remember acquiring this, otherwise it wouldn't be listed - but I'm just gonna assume that whenever it was I got it, I looked up Unearth on Metal Archives, found out they were a metalcore band, and it's been gathering dust ever since. It's purely in my collection to make it look bigger.

ROB ZOMBIE - Hellbilly Deluxe (1998)

I was never a Rob Zombie fan, but I have this and White Zombie's Astro-Creep: 2000 in my collection. The White Zombie album I remember buying from Amazon marketplace years and years ago, this one not so much. But I can only guess I got it around the same time as that White Zombie disc? Anyhow, Hellbilly Deluxe is kind of a classic whichever way you look at it. I never fully got into the whole industrial style of the '90s, more like just a few bands/albums here and there that I like. Definitely not one of my favourite genres by any stretch of the imagination, but not really one I hold any sort of grudge against either. I've gotta say though, I just listened to a few songs from this album... and I'm kinda diggin' it! Catchy as hell! Sometimes all it takes is 10+ years of not listening to an album before finally returning to enjoy it!