Forty four years, five reformations, and ten albums later Sunderland, England-based heavy metal quintet BLITZKRIEG might still be an enduring point of reminiscence for the greater NWOBHM movement and its influence upon thrash/speed metal but their own persistence, a consistent reach for heavy metal done their own way seems to have been willfully ignored by many. Their latest full-length, ‘Blitzkrieg‘, presents as a self-titled record knowing full well it’ll read as a point of definition (or, re-definition) for their efforts and in this case appropriately so. Invigorated by an extra virtuosic touch applied to their classics-attuned songcraft these pieces manage to stick in mind while capturing the breadth and the ongoing momentum of the personae gathered decade over decade and as such they’ve represented themselves and their somewhat obscure legacy well herein.

Blitzkrieg formed circa 1980 though some of that work had been done for a couple of years prior in a different incarnation (Split Image) which’d changed the name to suit new vocalist Brian Ross who’d joined late in the year. The way the story goes is that this initially short-lived band carried over just a few songs from their prior repertoire (“Armageddon” mostly) and chipped out a serious three song demo tape by the end of November that year. An infamous, influential single (‘Buried Alive” b/w “Blitzkrieg‘, 1981) from the band would highlight the explosive Neat Records catalog and inspire some upcoming speed metal bands in the making the same way early 70’s progressive and hard rock music had influenced them. This Mark I version of the band would more-or-less cease within the year but not until they’d put out one more demo (‘Blitzed Alive‘, 1981) which’d spoke to their readiness for a longer record but was probably more of a legend for the sake of the live audience having been added in to suit the live in studio performances. Don’t worry, I don’t intend on detailed everything they’ve released in the last ~45 years but these folks had a fairly big impact in a very short period of time before they’d split after Ross joined Satan, soon performing on one of my all-time favorite records ‘Court in the Act‘.

The Mark II version of Blitzkrieg kicked back into gear in 1984, retaining co-songwriter/guitarist Jim Sirotto and carrying back over some of their best songs for new versions on their debut full-length album (‘A Time of Changes‘, 1985) a dark, theatric and brilliant mess of a debut LP which is still rightfully held up as a (delayed) classic of the NWOBHM. This is the main reason folks revere this band beyond the fact that Metallica covered some of their songs. I personally love Ross‘ voice in that era and the atmospheric space their early recordings occupied, something you’ll figure early Bay Area speed metal certainly tried to emulated here and there; It wasn’t until ten years later that we could fully grasp the vision that Ross brought to the band as their far more melodic second LP (‘Unholy Trinity‘, 1995), an hourlong fourteen song venture that left no stone unturned in terms of his heavily melodic and oft harmonized style of vocal. We find his signature fully matured on that album and carries on to this day in both this band and Satan whom he’d joined when they reformed in 2011. When this fellowe sings on an album you damn sure know its him and this carries through the three albums the band did for Neat Records (under Neat Metal) in the mid-to-late 90’s. If you’ve never stepped out of the 80’s with this band, and trust me they went back to those songs countless times over the years too, start with ‘Unholy Trinity‘.

I’ll go out on a limb here and try not to sound like a super fan in suggesting every single Blitzkrieg album has something you’ll enjoy if you are a fan of the tried and true classic heavy metal spirit in the 80’s and its late 70’s inspired sense of variety and meaning-infused lyricism. That said if you’re a trenches-borne, lactose intolerant and hard as nails type who doesn’t have time for love songs, ballads, and anthems to the gods of rock n’ roll there’ll be a point in each of their ten full-lengths where their ability to do more than kicking riff-chuckers is flexed and even today they go pretty hard into it (see: “On Olympus High” b/w “Aphrodite’s Kiss”). The album that’d truly won me over beyond their first two was actually ‘Theatre of the Damned‘ (2007) as it was the first time the 2000’s era lineup had really made their more bombastic production values and chunky, overloud guitars work with the melodic devices Ross conjured. At the time the floppy double-bass drum hits and the neon-loud guitars weren’t exactly what I wanted but, as is the case with ‘Blitzkrieg‘ today, songcraft trumps all and the album has something deeper to convey if you’re willing to dig your feet in and hold on. If you like those early 2000’s Halford records you’ll more-or-less get where I’m coming from.

Most of the folks who are in the band today joined during their return in the early 2010’s with Ross‘ son Alan taking up guitar duties alongside Ken Johnson who’d been with the band since 2002. From my point of view the two previous albums and the re-recording of ‘A Time of Changes‘ (for its 30th anniversary) were all just alright, they’d a habit of re-recording songs quite often over the years and most of their records were fairly long but always delivered in excess. Keeping this in mind my expectations for ‘Blitzkrieg‘ were mild as I knew it would be a solid heavy metal record but their production values had been either less than dynamic (or inconsistent) or overlong. While some of these things did pan out as expected, we’re still closer to an hour than 45 minutes here, the addition of guitarist/producer Nick Jennison seems to have consciously tapped into the Blitzkrieg sound past-and-present without making a caricature of it, lifting the overall sound design of this album to a higher overall standard while also shredding throughout.

It’d be easy to drop a shitty “Their best album since the last one you remember…” quote and get on with it here, I don’t think the band’s work in the 90’s should continue to be discounted let alone their seventh and ninth records, both of which were quite good all things considered. When taking in their full discography in succession the spirit of Ross‘ enduring qualities and the general shape of their songwriting has held together despite a big shift in their line-up within each decade of life. It is remarkable that ‘Blitzkrieg‘ sounds exactly like Blitzkrieg at all and it is a given that any self-titled album intends to emphasize that point. That said, we’re also five albums deep into a decade long run of Ross fronting Satan (who have a new album out a week after this one) and this distinctly different-but-related side of the vocalist is further emphasized by having both albums in ear at the same time; With all of this in mind we find this band once again tributing classic heavy metal as much as they are creating it, gaining a bit more ground on those goals with a shredder and a different production value in hand.

Shredding for Shelob ’til dizzied under the gaze of the Eye. — The difference is observable from the moment we drop into opener “You Won’t Take Me Alive” where you’ll feel the Satriani and Rhoads-tipped leads chime in within seconds and later on, once their tuneful anthemic gear is at full soar, we duck into high-speed runs and plenty more shredding trade-offs than expected. There is an agility to this opener that brings the energy as needed, just fleet enough to emphasize Ross‘ indomitable presence rather than interrupt. This opening momentum is vital in setting the overall tone and initial reach of ‘Blitzkrieg‘ as we’re hit with a pulse of three single-worthy pieces starting with standout “The Spider“, probably the biggest ear-worming moment on the record per its Priest-ly main riff and power-thrashing step. The luminant, nigh video game-like touch of the lead guitar hook that accompanies the chorus is brilliant, an odd sensation per Blitzkrieg at first but that extra nerd metal touch completely fits once you’ve settled into the full listen.

Whereas some hear Dio-esque inspire in the cadence of the epic chorus of “Dragon’s Eye”, and the eventual crisscrossing harmonies built help to make sense of this observation, I’d felt more of a 90’s Euro power metal rub to much of this album which exaggerates the impact of Blitzkrieg‘s songwriting in to the degree that ‘Theatre of the Damned‘ had. They do ultimately go full-on 80’s heavy metal with songs like “If I Told You” and the theatric rise-and-fall of “Vertigo” as much of the album wheels back to denim and leather era with a bit of glossy shred applied. The more modern thrusters applied to earlier pieces eventually gives way to more rocking, steady kicked pieces with a heavy emphasis on their melodic centre (see: “Above the Law”). Although all of this sounds serious enough they’re having some fun here with the Halloween inspired “The Night He Came Home”, a reminder that the spirit of the band carries through this work and isn’t a hundred percent severe and affected.

So, if we’re using longtime fandom to gather a rubric that might appreciate the finer details of a tenth Blitzkrieg record we’ve got familiar, self-referential artwork and a clean somewhat modern production value feeding into songcraft which is infectious and all of it trademarked by the enduring vocalist’s touch. Any longtime fan who views ‘A Time of Changes‘ as formative and ‘Unholy Trinity‘ as transformative will anticipate the familiar as well as the ascendant qualities of this album, likely getting a kick out of the super-charged guitar performances which keep it all pouncing along with classic vitality. Though the grand finale of this album might be a bit too over the top for some and the whole of it might read a shade to power metal for others I’d walked away from it with a few pieces still stuck in mind, appreciating the lingering effect most all of their albums have had over the years. A high recommendation.

https://blitzkrieguk.bandcamp.com/album/blitzkrieg

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