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BLITZKRIEG
Judge Not!

Mighty Music (2018)
Rating: 6/10

Just like fellow British metal stalwarts Millennium and Desolation Angels, Blitzkrieg have been doing the rounds since the 1980s and released their debut album, A Time Of Changes, in 1985, although the band were actually at their most prolific in the 90s.

Vocalist Brian Ross remains the only original member, and when you hear opening track ‘Reign Of Fire’ you can hear why he remains at the helm. But unfortunately for me, the standards drop very quickly, and that’s a terrible shame, because ‘Reign Of Fire’ is a killer tune featuring menacing chugging. The twin guitar attack of Ken Johnson and Alan Ross (Brian’s son) are a real pleasure on the ears as the band fuse together New Wave Of British Heavy Metal earthiness with doomier climes, particularly in that vocal department, while the percussion of Matt Graham really brings this track alive; his nifty playing working well in tandem with the booming bass of newest member Huw Holding.

However, as the record unravels it seems to lose its edge, giving the listener a feeling of things being rushed, and so tracks appear rather standard. As a result, we get a rather formulaic album fuelled by an outdated metal-by-numbers structure.

There are edgier riffs that dot proceedings, some of the standouts being ‘Angels Or Demons’, ‘Forever Is A Long Time’, and ‘All Hell Is Breaking Lose’, but at times things seem uninspired as Blitzkrieg work their way through a myriad of crusty horror stories, where at times Brian Ross struggles with the tones as the combo veers towards cheesy subject matters in their quest for being “True British Metal”.

I get it that Blitzkrieg are a British institution when it comes to heavy metal, and I’m not dismissing this as a bad album. It’s just that as I sift through the likes of ‘Who Is Blind’, ‘Loud And Proud’ and ‘Wide Legged And Headless’, I’m probably all to enveloped by that strong, overbearing 80s mustiness which only seems to lift when ‘Without You’ emerges; a song featuring lead vocals from Alan Ross.

In spite of the solid mixing of Jonas Haagensen (Hansen Studios), Judge Not! remains as creaky as a coffin lid on a dark ‘n’ stormy night. And so as the heavyweight ‘Falling Into Darkness’ tumbles like a skeleton out of the closet, I’m left feeling rather unfazed by what is essentially a predictable heap of rainy, Gothic Britishness.

Neil Arnold

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