SIMMONDS Simmonds (1985) The long hard toils of labour in putting together a class heavy metal / hard rock act have been rewarding to guitarist Kim Simmonds. As some of you may or may not know, Kim Simmonds had been the force behind the legendary Savoy Brown for 15 years. Perhaps a little tired of […]

METAL FORCES – Issue 12 Magazine Cover (1985) « Previous Cover Next Cover »

SAVAGE GRACE – Into The Fire Bernard Doe Metal Forces, Issue 12 (1985) Savage Grace (l-r): Chris Logue, Mark Marshall, Mike Smith, Brian East and Dan Finch III Europe’s newest independent record label on the heavy metal scene is Black Dragon Records from Paris, France. Black Dragon restrict their releases to quality product rather than […]

MEGADETH – Love It To Death Bernard Doe Metal Forces, Issue 12 (1985) Megadeth (l-r): Dave Ellefson, Dave Mustaine (front), Gar Samuelson (back) and Chris Poland Ever since he parted company with Metallica and put together Megadeth, Dave Mustaine has become a much acclaimed figure on the underground metal scene. Indeed, the first Megadeth demo […]

TAIST OF IRONResurrection Iron Records (1984)Rating: 8/10 Dare I say that this lot are the latest Dave Reynolds discovery? The curiously named Taist Of Iron come from Tacoma, Washington and are fronted by a very powerful vocalist in the form of Lorraine Gill, whose vocals can best be described as a cross between Lee Aaron […]

ATOMIC OPERA Atomic Opera (1985) Atomic Opera have only been in existence since the beginning of the year, but it shouldn’t be too long before this Florida quintet start making a name for themselves. The band’s first demo contains two tracks – ‘Kamikaze’ and ‘Take Control’ – both showing touches of Iron Maiden but far […]

LIEGE LORDFreedom’s Rise Black Dragon (1985)Rating: 10/10 You probably remember my review of Liege Lord’s eugenic demo in Metal Forces #8 describing them as being “a potential killing machine”. Well, I’m just recovering from being subjected to a massive onslaught of metal courtesy of the Lord’s debut piece of death. Terms like “immense”, “unreal” and […]

MAYHEM (N. Y. C.) Mayhemic Destruction (1985) Mayhem are the latest in deathcore thrash from New York. The band were formed by ex-Assault axeman Gordon Ancis who recruited bassist Tony Marc (also ex-Assault) and drummer and lead vocalist Tommy Carroll, formerly with Corrupt. Despite a rather poor quality rehearsal tape, it’s obvious that Mayhem have […]

AT WAR Eat Lead (1985) Formed at the beginning of 1984, At War are a power metal trio from the outskirts of Virginia Beach who consist of Paul Arnold on bass and vocals, Shawn Helsel on guitar and Dave Stone on drums. Showing distinctive Venom influences, the band’s first demo contains two numbers – ‘Rapechase’ […]

SABUHeartbreak Heavy Metal America (1985)Rating: 10/10 Paul Sabu must be one of the happiest guys around at the moment, and you may well be wondering why? I’ll tell you why. This guy Sabu is gonna have one of the biggest selling records of ’85, providing things go ahead as planned record company wise. We are […]