Release number 18 on the Neat Records roster, this band were only around for two years and this was their first release. Part of the NWOBHM scene, although they were not part of the first wave, they just made the tale end of the second wave. There was lots of incestuous changing around of band members between. Blitzkrieg, Satan, and Avenger were all disbanding, then forming, and then reforming again – it all got a bit confusing if you were trying to follow these bands.
Anyhoo, the music is pretty standard fare for the genre with the usual stock riffs and grooves, but guitarist Lee Cheetham was a bit special and lifted the band from the norm. Opener, Enforcer is a decent tune, but the follow up track, You’ll Never Take Me Alive, is just sped up Sabbath with a decent solo. Matriarch is a different type of tune as it’s quite slow paced and un-metal, until the middle section kicks in then we’re off to Maiden gallop territory. Side 2 is more of the same, plenty of the usual riffs played with lots of enthusiasm. I guess my favourite track would be the bleed out track, N.O.T.J.
I will give this 7/10 for the nostalgia.
