Blitzkrieg are best known for two things. The first is having their eponymous 1980 song covered by Metallica on the Creeping Death EP. The second is that they were singer Brian Ross’ band prior to joining fellow cult NWOBHM legends, Satan. It’s a real shame that the most noteworthy aspects of this band amongst the metal community aren’t musical in nature, because they have no shortage of classic metal anthems to their name. Furthermore, their 21st century output has been impressive to say the least, keeping the NWOBHM flame ablaze decades after the scene’s heyday.
While Satan has been cranking out albums practically every other year for the past decade, Blitzkrieg has been virtually radio silent since 2018’s Judge Not!. That all changes with the arrival of Blitzkrieg’s long awaited 10th studio album (not including a 2015 rerecord of A Time of Changes), the aptly titled Blitzkrieg. Like most Blitzkrieg albums, this latest affair boasts a different lineup than its predecessor. Bassist Liam Ferguson and guitarist Nick Jennison are the newest members, having joined in 2019 and 2020 respectively. Rounding out the lineup are drummer Matt Graham and guitarist Alan Ross, the latter who is of course the son of founding singer, Brian Ross.
Despite all these personnel changes, Blitzkrieg have remained incredibly consistent, with this latest album being no exception. From top to bottom, this is a flawless outing of pure old school metal, executed precisely with one of the genre’s masters at the helm. The opening fiery, hook-laden one-two punch of “You Won’t Take Me Alive” and “The Spider” recall recent outings of fellow NWOBHM lifers, Tygers of Pan Tang. It’s the perfect fusion of a full, modern production coupled with traditional writing and musicianship. Songs like this really emphasize the ideology that age is indeed just a number, as the energy on display are nothing to sneeze at.
Lengthy multi-faceted compositions like “Vertigo” and “Dragon’s Eye”, the latter even thrashing at times, wouldn’t sound out of place on a modern day Satan album, but for the most part Blitzkrieg adheres to the straightforward English metal sound synonymous with the band for roughly 45 years running. As thrilling as the music itself is its accompanying lyrical content, with topics ranging from conspiracy (“If I Told You”) to the Halloween series (“The Night He Came Home”). There are, of course, those ever heady examinations of the human condition in “Above the Law” and “I Am His Voice”, all of this being rounded out by an epic metal ballad in “Aphrodite’s Kiss”.
Despite being “Buried Alive”, Blitzkrieg have survived, laying metalheads young and old to waste with one spectacular show of force at a time. I’d go as far to say Blitzkrieg stands among the finest of them all, or at the very least toe to toe with 1985’s A Time of Changes and 2007’s Theatre of the Damned. Between this and the new Satan record set to drop this Friday, Brian Ross is absolutely spoiling us at nearly 70, and we’re all for it. Indeed, you won’t take this band alive!
10 out of 10
Label: Mighty Music
Genre: Heavy Metal
For fans of: Satan, Tygers of Pan Tang, Angel Witch
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