About the band:Witchfynde are a heavy metal band that was one of the forerunners of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. Witchfynde was formed in Derbyshire, England in 1974 by bass guitarist Richard Blower and vocalist Neil Harvey. Richard Blower discovered Montalo (Trevor Taylor) whilst in a band called Atiofel. When Richard left the band in 1975, they reformed Witchfynde with lead guitarist Montalo, bassist Andro Coulton, and drummer Gra Scoresby, soon recruiting vocalist Steve Bridges. The band released their first single, Give 'em Hell in 1979 and released its first full-length album, also entitled Give 'em Hell, on Rondolet Records in 1980. A major attribute to success may have originated with the frequent air play on the Friday Night Rock Show, hosted by Tommy Vance on BBC Radio 1. The band gained some exposure by touring the United Kingdom with Def Leppard in the summer of 1980. The band's sound incorporated a mix of influences, such as progressive and hard rock, with various aspects of the heavy metal sound as well as prominent use of satanic imagery.
After a line-up change and new albums in 1980, 1983, and 1984, the band faded away due to lack of interest until former band members reunited in 1999. Since then, the band have played at many events and festivals throughout the UK, Europe and America.
Their back-catalogue has been re-released on CD, and a new album was released in 2008.
About the album:"Give 'Em Hell" is the debut album by NWOBHM band Witchfynde. The album was released in 1980 and re-released in 2004. The 2004 re-release featured 3 bonus tracks (The Devil's Gallop, Tetelestai and Wake Up Screaming)
Members: Luther Beltz (vocals)
Montalo (Trevor Taylor) (guitar)
Pete Surgey (bass)
Gra Scoresby (drums)
About the band:Tygers of Pan Tang are a heavy metal band, formed in 1978 and originating from Whitley Bay, England. They are a notable band of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement. The band is named after the pets of the Wizards of Pan Tang - an elite group of chaos-worshipping warriors from Michael Moorcock's Elric of Melniboné stories.The band was originally formed by Jess Cox (vocals), Robb Weir (guitar), Richard "Rocky" Laws (bass), and Brian Dick (drums). They played in "workingmen's clubs"[1] and were first signed by local independent label Neat Records before MCA gave them a major record deal. After several singles, they released their first album ,Wild Cat, in 1980. The album reached No. 18 in the UK Album Chart in the first week of its release. Subsequently John Sykes (formerly of Streetfighter, later in Badlands, Thin Lizzy, Whitesnake, and Blue Murder) was added as second guitarist. Jess Cox had a falling out with the others and quit, to be replaced by Persian Risk vocalist Jon Deverill. This lineup released Spellbound in 1981. Sykes quit after the release of the third album, Crazy Nights, to audition for Ozzy Osbourne's band. He was replaced by ex-Penetration guitarist Fred Purser who had to learn the set in two days before touring. Tygers of Pan Tang's fourth album, The Cage, was released in 1982. The band then had a disagreement with MCA, who were not prepared to promote them unless they agreed to play more cover recordings (following the band's hit with "Love Potion No. 9"). They subsequently tried to break free from their contract, but MCA's demands exceeded the willingness of any other record company to pay to free the band, and the band broke up in frustration.In 1985, Jon Deverill and Brian Dick reformed the band with Steve Lamb (formerly of Sergeant) on guitar, Neil Sheppard on guitar, and ex-Warrior, ex-Satan member Clin Irwin on bass. Dave Donaldson later replaced Clin Irwin. Meanwhile, Robb Weir and Jess Cox formed the spin-off band Tyger-Tyger. The reformed Tygers of Pan Tang released The Wreck-Age in summer 1985 through Music for Nations, and Burning in the Shade in 1987, through Zebra Records. Burning in the Shade received poor reviews and they disbanded again. Various compilations and live albums were produced by the band's two first labels, Neat Records and MCA.During the 1998 Wacken Open Air festival, Jess Cox joined on stage with Blitzkrieg, playing three old Tygers songs. The audience's response was very positive, and a year later, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Tygers of Pan Tang and the 10th Wacken Open Air, the band was invited to play on the main stage. Brian Dick and Rocky were unable to join the band, but the Tygers (now Jess Cox and Robb Weir, backed up by Blitzkrieg guitarist Glenn S Howes, bassist Gavin Gray, and drummer Chris Percy) did perform. Recordings of their performance resulted in the Live at Wacken album. In 2001, Robb Weir reformed the band as the only original member. The other musicians were Tony Lidell (vocals), Dean Robertson (lead guitar), Brian West (bass), and Craig Ellis (drums). They released Mystical through Z-Records. They toured in several festivals, but eventually were dropped by Z-Records in 2002, due to poor record sales. The band went on to produce the split album The Second Wave: 25 Years of NWOBHM with Girlschool and Oliver/Dawson Saxon on Communique Records, and in 2004 released Noises in the Cathouse with new singer Richie Wicks. Later that year, Richie Wicks left and was replaced by Italian vocalist Jacopo Meille. Wicks later joined Shadowkeep, appearing on their 2008 album The Hourglass Effect, before leaving in 2009. As of 2010, he was the vocalist in Heavenly Hell, a Dio-era Black Sabbath tribute band. Jon Devrill went on to work as an actor under the name of John Deville, and as of October 2007 was performing in 'The Sound Of Music' at the London Palladium with Television star Connie Fisher. In October 2007, the band issued a limited edition five track EP titled Back and Beyond, which featured reworkings of three Tygers songs from the early 1980s, along with two new tracks taken from their forthcoming album. Animal Instinct was released on 19 May 2008, the first with vocalist Jacopo Meille.
About the album : Wild Cat is the debut album by the British heavy metal band Tygers of Pan Tang, released in 1980. The album was re-issued in 1989 in a double-LP package with Spellbound and on CD in 1997 with bonus tracks.
Members: Robb Weir
Dean Robertson
Brian West
Craig Ellis
Jacopo Meille
About the band:Witchfinder General are a doom metal band from Stourbridge, England. They were part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal scene and have been cited as a major influence on the doom metal genre.Witchfinder General formed in 1979 by Zeeb Parkes & Phil Cope in Stourbridge, England, as part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement during the early 1980s. They are strongly influenced by Black Sabbath, and are widely recognised today as one of the pioneers of the doom metal style. The band's importance became acknowledged mostly after they disbanded.
The band (minus vocalist & writer Zeeb Parkes) reformed in November 2006, with new vocalist Gary Martin. In 2007 the band released Buried Amongst the Ruins, a compilation CD featuring the "Burning a Sinner" single, the Soviet Invasion EP, and four live tracks including a live version of the unreleased track "Phantasmagorical". Whilst stating they will not perform live again, the band recently finished recording their third full length album, entitled Resurrected.
About the album : Death Penalty is the debut album by British heavy metal band Witchfinder General. It was released in 1982 on Heavy Metal Records. The album received some criticism for the cover photograph, which featured topless model Joanne Latham. The photograph had been taken in the yard of St Mary the Blessed Virgin Church in Enville, Staffordshire, without the permission of the local Reverend.[1] The album was originally released on LP and picture disc and was later reissued on CD. Pictured on the cover is Phil Cope, Zeeb Parkes, Graham Ditchfield and a member of the then Road Crew. While Peter Hinton is credited with producing this recording the writers Phil Cope and Zeeb Parkes always felt the credit should have gone to the engineer Robin George.
About the band :Angel Witch is a British heavy metal band which formed in London, England in 1977 as part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement.The band was formed, originally under the name of Lucifer, and was initially composed of guitarist and vocalist Kevin Heybourne, guitarist Rob Downing, drummer Steve Jones, and bassist Barry Clements. Lucifer split and Steve Jones joined up with Bruce Dickinson to form Speed. The remnants of Lucifer became Angel Witch, with the exceptions of Barry, who was replaced by Kevin Riddles, and Steve Jones, who was replaced by Dave Hogg. The following year Rob Downing left the band.Angel Witch's first song to achieve mainstream popularity was "Baphomet", which was included on a compilation titled Metal for Muthas.On 1980, Bronze Records picked up the band and they soon proceeded to record and release their debut album, self-titled Angel Witch. This album is considered one of the most notable from the NWOBHM, but subsequent to the album's release, the band's structure began to fall apart. The sacking of Dave Hogg, and Kevin Riddles leaving the band to join Tytan, and despite Heybourne's attempts to continue Angel Witch with other musicians, the end of the band was declared and he joined Deep Machine.Angel Witch was brought back to activity on 1982, when Heybourne and two musicians from Deep Machine - namely vocalist Roger Marsden and drummer Ricky Bruce - left to assemble a new Angel Witch line-up together with bassist Jerry Cunningham. By 1983 the band had ceased its activities, and Heybourne moved to Blind Fury. In 1984, Angel Witch was once more brought to life, this time with the help of bassist Peter Gordelier, singer Dave Tattum and with Dave Hogg returning to the drums. This line-up recorded the album Screamin' N' Bleedin'. Dave Hogg was sacked yet again, but not without many snide remarks from the band's fans. He was replaced by Spencer Hollman. With the new drummer they recorded Frontal Assault, which deviated heavily from Angel Witch's previous albums, having many melodic elements.
About the album : Angel Witch is the first album by British heavy metal band Angel Witch. The album was released in 1980 through Bronze Records, and re-released in four editions. The cover features a painting by John Martin entitled The Fallen Angels Entering Pandemonium. The song "Angel Witch" was featured in the 2009 video game, Brütal Legend. The album made Angel Witch one of the key bands in the New Wave of British Heavy Metal.
Members: Kevin Heybourne
Bill Steer
Will Palmer
Andrew Prestidge
About the band:Tank is a British heavy metal band, formed in 1980 by Algy Ward, a former member of The Damned. The band is known as part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement. Tank was often compared to Motörhead as both bands, trios fronted by singing bassists, played a loose, almost punk-styled metal music with often colourful lyrics.
Their 1982 debut album, Filth Hounds of Hades, was positively received by both punk and metal fans as well as most critics, regarded now as one of the best albums of the NWOBHM movement. Allmusic critic, Eduardo Rivadavia; described it as "Tank's best album ever, and qualifying it as an essential item in the record collection of any serious '80s metal fan."
As was the case with many other bands of the era, Tank was never able to build on the promise shown by their first album. The band continued on for years through lineup changes and waning commercial fortunes before finally disbanding in 1989. Ward resurrected the band in 1997 playing tour dates around Europe and Japan for a couple of years. A new album, Still At War, emerged in 2002. In August 2006 Ward reported that he was putting the finishing touches on the demos for the next Tank album, Sturmpanzer. The band's website has listed the release date for this album as "TBA" for years.
On December 20, 2008, a new lineup was announced. Guitarists Mick Tucker and Cliff Evans were joined by original drummer Mark Brabbs and former Bruce Dickinson bassist Chris Dale. Algy Ward was replaced by former Rainbow singer Doogie White. The first Tank album featuring this new lineup is entitled War Machine and will be released in October 2010.
About the album: Honour & Blood is the fourth album by the British heavy metal band Tank, released in 1984. By the time of this album Algy Ward was the last original member of the group remaining, as the Brabbs brothers had been replaced by Cliff Evans on guitar and Graeme Crallan on drums (reuniting Crallan with his former bandmate in White Spirit, Mick Tucker). The album follows much the same format as the band's previous album This Means War, with seven songs, several quite lengthy, of melodic heavy metal primarily about the topic of war. However, the band explores some different subject matter on side two, as "W.M.L.A." and "Too Tired To Wait For Love", express frustration in love, while "Chain of Fools" is a cover of the 1967 hit by Aretha Franklin.
Members: Doogie White
Michael John "Mick" Tucker
Cliff Evans
Chris Dale
Mark Cross
About the band:Holocaust is a progressive heavy metal band based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded in 1977 while still at high school, the original lineup (featuring guitarists John Mortimer and Ed Dudley, vocalist Gary Lettice, bassist Robin Begg and drummer Paul Collins) became part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement. After numerous line-up changes due to internal strife, John Mortimer remains the only founding member of Holocaust since "No Man's Land". After the demise of the original incarnations of the band John Mortimer embarked on less heavy direction with the formation of "Dunedin" With guitarist Fin West and long term drummer Steven Cowan with bassist Graham Hall being recruited from Blues-Rock band "Just the Job". Despite Dunedin producing some notable material, West left to pursue separate projects leaving Mortimer/Cowan and Hall to revert to a heavier sound. This lineup of the band produced what is generally regarded as the bands finest recording "The Sound of Souls" which embraced a multitude of musical styles and introduced industrial elements to the bands sound with Cowans electronic percussion playing a significant part in moulding the overall sound. The album was released to massive critical acclaim and has been cited as an influence to countless other rock acts. Hypnosis of Birds in 1992 was a change in the atmosphere of Holocaust. The songs were more gloomy and the riffs from The Sound of Souls were gone. Spirits Fly is largely in the slower style of Hypnosis of Birds. - - Covenant in 1997 was a return to the thrash metal style of The Sound of Souls. With the return of Graham Hall to bass it is a much faster album with the fast riffs heard in the Sound of Souls. The Courage to Be and Primal both follow in the steps of Covenant. Holocaust plan to reform for a special "Belsen was a Gas" concert in Edinburgh in December 2010
About the album: The Nightcomers is the debut album by British New Wave of British Heavy Metal band Holocaust. The album was released in 1981 by Castle Music Ltd. and re-issued by Edgy Records in 2000. It was remastered and packed with three bonus tracks (including B-sides "Love's Power" and "Only As Young As You Feel").
Members:John Mortimer - guitars/vocals John McCullim - guitars Bryan Bartley - bass Ron Levine - drums.
