Iron Gods of Vengeance

White Wizzard - Over The Top

Earache Records – 2010

The first thing you notice when dropping the needle on White Wizzard’s Over The Top is the galloping bass of Jon Leon thundering up front like Steve Harris circa ’82. Leon is the main man behind White Wizzard and as such writes all the songs and lyrics and performs almost all of the lead, rhythm, and bass guitars in the studio.

White Wizzard was formed in 2007 in Los Angeles, California and released their debut EP White Wizzard in 2008 which was re-released in 2009 as High Speed GTO. The EP featured a completely different line up than Over The Top and included future Holy Grail founders James Paul Luna, James J. Larue and Tyler Meahl. The ever popular “creative differences” led to Luna, Larue and Meahl to leave amid not a little bit of rancor.

Jon Leon regrouped and recruited a completely new lineup for Over The Top. The most notable addition is vocalist Wyatt “Screaming Demon” Anderson who sings in a powerful, clear voice and in some songs sounds much like Mike Howe of Heretic and Metal Church. Wyatt’s vocal abilities help White Wizzard to sound like equal parts Judas Priest circa British Steel and Iron Maiden before 1986. This is a potent combination that most metal bands back in the mid-80’s were striving to achieve and White Wizzard has managed to blend these two influences perfectly.

Over The Top features such up-tempo anthems as “Over The Top,” “40 Deuces,” “High Roller,” “Live Free Or Die,” and “Death Race.” In case you weren’t sure whether or not Jon Leon is a Iron Maiden fan or not, just take a listen to the cut “Strike Of The Viper” which has the line, “Can you feel the strike of the Viper, 6 6 6.” Number of the beast, strike of the viper, either works for The Metal Blog Of Metal. All of these tracks feature lyrical themes about such metal topics as: taking risks, having wings of steel, fighting it out Road Warrior style in a dystopian future, freedom, and muscle cars.

The lead single from the album is “Over The Top” and the band made a hilarious video for it. Leon clearly understands the 1980’s metal video esthetic as it features a ghost town, two dueling wizards, hot chicks, a Pontiac GTO and the band rocking in the middle of nowhere. Follow the viewing of it with W.A.S.P.’s “Wild Child” as a chaser.

Somewhat unexpected are the two epic tracks, “Iron Goddess of Vengeance” and “White Wizzard” which both clock in at seven plus minutes. “Iron Goddess of Vengeance” is a personal favorite that starts off with ominous chanting and proceeds to build to a furious climax as the Iron Goddess reclaims her crown from Satan himself. The track is pure vanadium and is the center piece of the album with its progressive structure and superb songwriting. “White Wizzard” is the final track and tells the tale of dueling wizards and a dragon which, as Ronnie James Dio would tell you from his throne in Valhalla, is what metal is all about.

Earache offers the album in the following formats:

• Standard CD
• Limited Edition CD with bonus disc featuring the cover songs “Gates of Gehanna” by Cloven Hoof and “Heading Out To The Highway” by Judas Priest.
• Standard Vinyl
• Vinyl Picture Disc
• Digital Download

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The Bottom Line: If you like your metal traditional and fun Over The Top is exactly what you are looking for. Is it revolutionary in any way? No, but then again, I don’ t think it was meant to be revolutionary but rather it was meant to be a pure expression of early 80's metal. As the band have mentioned in interviews, Metal should be about fun and this is certainly a fun album. It has excellent songwriting, playing, and vocals and displays a purity that many bands fail to achieve in our irony saturated world. Definitely pick it up and check them out on tour this summer and fall.

As always, MAKE MINE METAL.

Ultimate Power Vultures

Holy Grail - Crisis In Utopia

Prosthetic Records – 2010

It seldom happens that an unknown band becomes one of your favorites on the strength of their first album. It’s even rarer that an unknown metal band playing straight down the pocket, traditional, old school, fists in the air metal becomes one of your favorites in 2011. Such is the case with Holy Grail here at The Metal Blog Of Metal.

Formed by three former members of White Wizzard in 2008, the band released the Improper Burial EP in 2009 and then followed that up with their full length debut album Crisis In Utopia the following year. Crisis In Utopia features 11 tracks, two of which were previously released on Improper Burial. Holy Grail successfully blend equal parts traditional metal and shred guitar with a dash of death metal backing vocals to create a superb album.

Don’t let the mention of death metal scare you off - the backing vocals on a couple tracks are of the harsher variety and that’s it. In fact, vocalist James Paul Luna sings in a clear, strong voice throughout the album. He has incredible range and sings with power and balls as should be the norm in metal. Luna has no trouble hitting the high notes and will at times have some nice grit in his voice in the low end. He is an excellent front man and really helps to put Crisis In Utopia over the top.

The other secret weapon in the band’s arsenal is Eli Santana on guitars and backing vocals. Santana frequently mentions Racer X in interviews as an inspiration and one can really hear that influence in the songs. He shreds all over this album like Paul Gilbert of Racer X. Now don't think this is some guitar wank-fest with notes-a-flyin' everywhere, but rather tasteful playing that compliments and enhances every track. Imagine Dio with Yngwie from Steeler playing and that should give you an idea of the Luna/Sanata combination.

Each track is a standout really so it’s extremely difficult to pick a favorite but lead single ”My Last Attack” is very, very good and incredibly infectious. The video for the track really captures the live experience at a Holy Grail show.

Lyrically, this is a traditional metal album. You aren’t going to have to listen to some jackass whining about how nobody loves him and he needs a hug. It’s about war, Vikings, the Apocalypse, succeeding against incredible odds, the supernatural and yes, ULTIMATE POWER VULTURES!!!!! Not just regular power vultures mind you but fucking ULTIMATE POWER VULTURES! No false metal here, no sir. Practically every song is anthemic, horns up metal of the highest quality. Think Painkiller, Balls To The Wall, Kill ‘Em All, etc…

Crisis In Utopia is just a superb album of traditional metal that is fun to listen to and great to sing along with in the car. That's the real test of any album for me, does it make repeated trips into my car CD player? In the case of the present album, I listened to it over and over during the 5 hour trip from the Queen City to the Steel City. If you can do that with an album, you know it's something special. In fact, the album has yet to leave my daily play list, it's that good. If there was ever a band and an album to lead metal into the next decade, this is it. Buy or die.

Prosthetic Records offers the album in several formats:

• CD
• Vinyl in various colors - clear (see pic above), black, white, black mix
• iTunes and Amazon digital download

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The Bottom Line: You should be buying this album now. As in right now. Stop reading this blog and buy this damn album already. You should be supporting this band with your cash monies. We need more bands like this in Metal. Holy Grail are also constantly on tour so definitely check them out live. The Metal Blog Of Metal had the good fortune of seeing them with Cauldron and the show was incredible. They are as good live as they are on wax and the show was a whopping $8. Go see them and buy some merch damn it!

As always, MAKE MINE METAL.

Somewhere Back In Time

Ozzy Osbourne - Blizzard Of Ozz and Diary Of A Madman reissues

Epic/Legacy Records 2011

My fellow Bangers, take a trip with me now back to the mythic year of 2002. In that year Ozzy Osbourne released “remastered” and expanded editions of his back catalog. The Metal Blog of Metal strolled into the record shop and eagerly snapped up both Blizzard Of Ozz and Diary Of A Madman. Blizzard included the rare B-side “You Looking at Me, Looking at You” so it was a must purchase even though Blizzard and Diary were already in The Metal Blog of Metal’s extensive vaults.

Upon reaching home, Blizzard was quickly slapped into the CD player and horror ensued. “What the hell is up with the bass and drum tracks?” exclaimed I. Well, it turns out that the perfidious Sharon Osbourne had been at work behind the scenes and these two classic albums had been irrevocably destroyed.

A close reading of the liner notes revealed the following: “Original album produced and performed by Ozzy Osbourne, Randy Rhoads, Bob Daisley, Lee Kerslake and Don Airey" but a little further down in the liner notes it said, “Reissue Information – Performed by Ozzy Osbourne, Randy Rhoads, Robert Trujillo, and Mike Bordin.” WHAT THE FUCK???!!!!! Those assclowns re-recorded the drum and bass parts to avoid having to pay royalties to Bob Daisley and Lee Kerslake who at the time were suing Ozzy for unpaid royalties. Unimaginable! This is from the same crew that is always yammering on about the sacred memory of Randy Rhoads. They felt no guilt over destroying Randy’s art though - so much for his fucking memory.

To make matters worse, Sharon said at the time that these were the preferred versions of Blizzard and Diary and that the fans wanted to hear updated versions. She most likely said this as she was shoveling another forkful of fresh baby arms into her gaping maw in her lair down in the sixth ring of hell. Poor, bumbling Ozzy was, as usual, creaking about unable to control his harridan of a wife. The Metal Blog of Metal retained the 2002 version of Blizzard so as to have the bonus track, “You Looking at Me, Looking at You.” Even that was suspect as it was unclear whose bass and drum tracks were on it.

Well my friends, finally this injustice has been righted and Blizzard and Diary have been reissued by Epic Records with restored bass and drum tracks as well as remastered sound, bonus tracks, and in the case of Blizzard, an entire bonus disc of live material from the Randy Rhoads era. The remastering job is very nice with crystal clear sound. Daisley’s, Kerslake’s and Airey’s contributions can all be clearly heard.

Blizzard Of Ozz features three bonus tracks, the first of which is the aforementioned “You Looking At Me, Looking At You.” This was originally released as the B-side to the “Crazy Train” single in both the UK and France. It’s quite a good track and stands up to any of the other material from Blizzard Of Ozz. The next bonus track is ”Goodbye To Romance (2010 Guitar and Vocal Mix)” which is merely the guitars and vocals from “Goodbye To Romance” isolated. It’s actually quite an interesting track as it turns that song into a nice little ballad.

Finally the last track is entitled simply “RR” and is a Randy Rhoads guitar solo outtake that is very good. It’s really great to hear Randy just playing around on the guitar and is a great example of the man’s mastery of the instrument. The CD booklet also includes some new photos and full lyrics to everything but “You Looking At Me, Looking At You.” This is the definitive edition of this album that everyone has been waiting for.

Diary Of A Madman comes housed in a tri-fold digipak with a plastic slipcase marked Legacy Edition. Again the original bass and drum tracks have been restored along with the same great remastering as heard on Blizzard Of Ozz. There are no bonus tracks to the original album but rather an entire bonus disc entitled Ozzy Live that consists of tracks recorded on the Blizzard Of Ozz tour.

We do get the usual Blizzard Of Ozz tracks such as “I Don’t Know,” “Mr. Crowley,” and “Crazy Train” but we also get two Diary Of A Madman tracks in “Flying High Again” and “Believer.” Ending the set are three Black Sabbath tracks, “Iron Man,” “Children Of The Grave,” and “Paranoid.” All in all it’s a nice collection of live tunes presented as a single concert rather than individual tracks that fade out a la AC/DC LIVE. Finally, the booklet is lavishly illustrated with photos and has the lyrics to everything.

The only missed opportunity is the failure to include the track “You Said It All” from the Live E.P. that was issued in 1980. To the best of my knowledge there is no studio version of this song. The Metal Blog Of Metal has this track in its collection on a bootleg Ozzy rarities collection called Live, Rare & Evil.

There is also a Blizzard Of Ozz / Diary Of A Madman 30^th Anniversary Collector’s Edition that is a box set of both albums on CD as well as both albums on 180 gram vinyl, a DVD entitled Thirty Years After The Blizzard, a 100 page coffee table book, a poster, and a replica of Ozzy’s cross (yawn). The Metal Blog Of Metal will be reviewing this set in the future with full photographs of the contents and a breakdown of the DVD.

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The Bottom Line: Finally the definitive editions of these two cornerstones of heavy metal have received the treatment they deserve. Blizzard is really nice but Diary is essential because of the live album. Get both and enjoy a trip back in time to when Ozzy really was the Prince of Darkness.

As always, MAKE MINE METAL.

Into The Cauldron (Again)

Cauldron – Burning Fortune

Earache Records 2011

Canadian power trio Cauldron is back with another molten slab of pure metal straight outta 1986. Burning Fortune is the follow up to their 2009 album Chained To The Nite. That album was great but Cauldron have managed to top it as the songwriting is even better with the tracks being very hooky and melodic.

Cauldron emulates mid 80’s metal perfectly without ever sounding completely derivative of any particular artist. Clearly the band love that era of music and have set out to recreate the sound. They are considered one of the bands in the forefront of the New Wave of Traditional Heavy Metal (NWOTHM) but in interviews the band repeatedly stress that they just play heavy metal and aren’t part of any trend. Front man Jason Decay was the lead man in Goat Horn and they played a similar style for years before the NWOTHM existed.

The band clearly agrees with The Metal Blog of Metal's position that the 80 minute time limit on compact discs has led to album bloat with 13-16 tracks many of which are filler. It's far better to have an album of less than 50 minutes with 10 or so great tracks that leave the listener wanting more. Burning Fortune is a vinyl-friendly 38 minutes long with 9 tracks in the standard version and 42 minutes long with the bonus track "Serpent Sorceress" on the limited edition.

The album kicks off in a roaring fashion with "All Or Nothing" which is a fast paced, hook laden song about giving your all. It includes backing vocals by Olof Wikstrand of Enforcer. "All Or Nothing" is also the lead single for the album and the band has released a video for it.

"Miss You To Death" is a mid paced song about lost love and would make a great sing along in a live setting. "Frozen In Fire" is an up tempo track about an evil woman that gets hers. This is followed up by "Tears Have Come" which is another song about lost love that sports a great guitar solo by Ian Chains.

"I Confess" is actually a cover of an original by the Detroit band Halloween. This can be found on Halloween's Vicious Demos from 1990 and is a superb fit for Cauldron. Jason Decay and Halloween vocalist Brian Thomas share a very similar vocal style. "I Confess" is also very hooky and another highlight on the album. Next up is another fantastic track "Rapid City/Unchained Assault." This is another fast track with a great chorus and excellent guitar work. Lyrically it seems to be a tale of the unforgiving nature of life on the road. "Unchained Assault" is a short guitar solo that features Ian Chains shredding it up.

"Queen of Fire" is another mid-paced song about lost love and mysterious women. "Breaking Through" picks up the pace and has lyrics about breaking chains and shaking brains. My guess is Cauldron is name checking Silver Mountain and their legendary 1984 album Shakin' Brains. Regardless, it's another outstanding track. Wrapping up the standard edition cd is "Taken By Desire" which is another fast track centered around failed dreams.

The Limited Edition of the album contains the bonus track "Serpent Sorceress" which tells the story of the Medusa. If you don't want to spring for the Limited Edition disc this track is available as an iTunes download. In fact, the whole album is a mere $ 6.99 on iTunes which is a fantastic value.

The Limited Edition also includes a special edition of Chromium Dioxide magazine which is centered around Cauldron. If you are not familiar with Chromium Dioxide it's a heavy metal magazine from Canada put together by two long time metalheads. It covers all sorts of long lost and forgotten metal as well as horror movies, wrestling, etc... It's a really cool magazine and something most metalheads would enjoy. Check 'em out here and order an issue or four.

Formats:

• Standard CD
• Limited Edition CD with one bonus track and a copy of Chromium Dioxide magazine
• Vinyl in various colors (red, black, yellow and orange) with a copy of Chromium Dioxide magazine.
• iTunes download

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The Bottom Line: Burning Fortune is a fantastic album of traditional metal with clean, mid-range vocals and great riffs. This is pure METAL with zero modern touches or sensibilities. Buy or die.

As always MAKE MINE METAL.