I guess that now is the right time to come clean and admit that although I’ve dipped the proverbial toe into White Wizzard water many times, I’ve never actually been able to sit down and listen to a complete WW CD in one sitting. For some reason that escapes me they’ve always managed to lose me along the way and I end up wondering off somewhere. So for me this is completely new territory because for once I have to sit and listen, no matter what.
After quitting WW back in April 2010 Wyatt "Screamin' Demon" Anderson is back fronting again for this CD, but sadly Wyatt has again departed with the impressive Michael Gremio returning to cover vocals on the impending tour.
First track “Fight to the death” achieves what all first tracks should do. It clearly sets the pace and feel of the whole album perfectly with big vocals and massive guitar going straight for the jugular. It demands that you sit up pay attention and I was more than willing to go along with its demands.
On the vocal front it is easy to understand how Wyatt earned the ‘screamin demon’ monika and he is on top form hitting notes that I couldn’t hit prior to manhood. With big vocals and notes that go on forever Wyatt manages to encapsulate the old NWOBM genre but the with added modern day metal punch, which is what gives their credibility. And then there are those vocal harmonies, which something that tend not to be mentioned when talking metal, but they’re are so reminiscent of ‘Tygers of Pan Tang’ when they were at their best, so they deserve a mention.
Guitar wise Jon Leon does a fantastic job capturing the feel of 80’s metal. With riffs flying at you left, right and center it would be very easy to over power the piece, which he doesn’t do. It is also a very fine line with this genre of music between classic rock guitar and cheese and I’m pleased to report that Jon has it down to perfection and it just makes the hairs on the back of you neck stand to attention.
On the CD there is some extremely good classic metal; Blood Pyramids, War of the Worlds, and ‘Starmans Son’ to name but a few. However standing way above the rest for me is ‘Starchild’. If you were to take everything that was good about NYONM and that genre and mixed it with; ‘Rainbow’, ‘UFO’ and sprinkled with a little early Irons then this is what you’d end up with. As far as I am concerned this is a true classic power ballad rock anthem, simply superb.
I really didn’t think I’d be able to sit through nearly an hour of White Wizzard, but I’m surprised at just how easy this was. In my opinion ‘Flying Tygers’ is their best CD offering to date. I wouldn’t hesitate in recommending it to anyone with the love of old metal.
Horns Raised.
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